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COPn^lGHT DEPOSn^ 



STORIES FROM THE 
OLD FRENCH CHRONICLES 



STORIES FROM 
THE OLD FRENCH 
CHRONICLES 

Retold in Modern English by 

ROBERT D. BENEDICT 




BOSTON: RICHARD G. BADGER 
THE GORHAM PRESS, MCMXI 



Copyright 1911 by Richard G. Badger 
All Rights Reserved 






The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A. 



©CLA289398 



PREFACE 



TIME to read as much as I would like having 
been given to me in later years, I took up 
several of the French Chroniclers who have 
told of events in France in the 14th to the 
17th centuries, from the day of King Charles IV and 
Du Guesclin to that of Louis XIV and De Pontis. 
Some of these chroniclers wrote biographies, some 
autobiographies, some histories, some journals. I 
found in them many episodes, interesting or amusing, 
whose full details perhaps made them inappropriate 
for the pages of the historian. Of these I have 
selected for translation the seventeen which follow, 
— I have thought they would not only be interesting 
as stories, but as giving, to those who read them, 
views of the life and manners of the camp and court 
of the time, given at first hand by writers, who took 
part in, or had personal knowledge of the events. 
And that a story teller can say, "All this I knew 
and part of this I was," always gives to his tale an 
added interest. 

I have not changed or made addition, except 

5 



Preface 

where it was necessary to do so, to make the tale 
intelligible. I have made the translations as simple as 
I could, in order to give to the reader not only the 
story, but also, as far as mere translation can give 
it, an idea of the style and therefore of the story- 
teller, for "the style is the man." 

I hope those, who read the stories, may find them 
as interesting as they have been to me, remembering 
that what they are reading is not a work of imagina- 
tion, but a narrative of actual fact. 

R. D. B. 



CONTENTS 

I. The Siege of Rennes, or How the Duke 

WAS Enabled to Keep His Oath 11 

From the " Chronicle of Sire Bertrand 
du Guesclin. " 

II. The Dog Did It 25 

From the ^'Chronicles of Jean Juvenal 
des Ursins." 

III. La Hire 's Prayer 36 

From the '* Chronicle of the Maid. " 

IV. A Conspiracy and an Ambuscade 39 

From the ''Memoirs of Marshal de 
Vieilleville. " 

V. Bayard's First Tournament, or The 

Abbe 's Oversight 57 

From the "Chronicle of the Loyal 
Servant. " 

VI. The Chivalry of Chevalier Bayard ... 69 

From the "Chronicle of the Loyal Ser- 
vant. " 

VII. Small Things Show Character 81 

VIII. De Pontis 83 

IX. A Divination of Nostradamus 87 

From the "Memoirs of the Sieur de 
Pontis. " 

7 



Contents 

X. A Night Watch 91 

From the ''Memoirs of the Sieur de 
Pontis. " 

XI. A Meeting of Fbiends 97 

From the ''Memoirs of the Sieur de 
Pontis. " 

XII. A Strange Hiding Place 10!^ 

From the "Memoirs of the Sieur de 
Pontis." 

XIII. A Family Quarrel in 1649 109 

From the "Memoirs of the Sieur de 
Pontis. " 

XIV. The Courageous Preacher 131 

From the "Journal of Pierre de L'Es- 
toile.'' 

XV. Henry IV and the Attorneys 133 

From the "Journal of Pierre de L'Es- 
toile.'' 

XVI. The Pope AND the Ambassador 136 

From the "Journal of Pierre de UEs- 
toile.'' 

XVII. A Trial with a Singular Episode .... 137 

From the "Memoirs of Madame de 
Motteville. " 



8 



STORIES FROM THE 
OLD FRENCH CHRONICLES 



TEE SIEGE OF RENNES, OR 

HOW THE DUKE WAS ENABLED TO 

KEEP HIS OATH 

IN the year 1355, the Duke of Lancaster 
besieged Rennes and took an oath that he 
would not leave it till he had entered the city. 
Rennes was held for Duke Charles of Blois by 
Lame de Pennehoet, who was a chevalier of great 
prowess and great sense. Bertrand du Guesclin, 
who had relatives in Rennes, wished much to be in 
the city, but the Duke had besieged it so closely on 
all sides, that no help of men or provisions could 
enter. So Bertrand, with about sixty companions, 
remained in the great woods which were near Rennes, 
and by day and night attacked the Duke's men, 
shouting, " Guesclin ! " The Duke marvelled at this, 
and inquired who it was that waked up his host so 
often. There was there a chevalier of Brittany who 
said to the Duke, "I swear to you that he is a young 
man of twenty years of age, of good parentage, who 
has some young people in company with him; and, 
young as he is, he has done as many feats of arms 

11 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 

as any chevalier of this country has ever done." 
Then he told the Duke how Bertrand had taken the 
castle of Forgeray and had taken his name from that 
Then the Duke said that, as he had taken the castle, 
he might well claim to be the Sire de Forgeray, and 
that he wished he was somewhere else. 

The Duke made great assaults upon Rennes, but 
he lost more than he gained in them. And so he 
began to mine the walls. Thereupon de Pennehoet, 
who suspected it, ordered that, in order to find out 
the mine, every one should keep in his house basins 
or pans of brass with bits of iron in them, by the 
rattle of which, from the jar of the digging under- 
ground, they found where the mine was and began a 
countermine. 

Bertrand learned of the mine and was greatly 
troubled; and one night he and his companions rode 
into the camp of the Duke and set fire to some tents, 
and raised such a shout that the Englishmen thought 
that they were attacked by the French of the party 
of Charles of Blois. In that attack Bertrand took 
four chevaliers prisoners and let them go on parole, 
and then he retreated into the forest. But the 
Englishmen remained under arms all night long, 
till the sentinels in the morning came and reported 

12 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 



that there was no attacking force; and then the Duke 
thought and said that it was Bertrand who would 
not let them sleep. Then came one of the English 
prisoners, whom Bertrand had sent to the Duke, and 
said, "Bertrand, whose prisoner I am, has sent me 
to say to you that it was he, who gave you the 
wake-up last night, and that henceforward he will 
let you sleep, if you will let him and his companions 
enter into Rennes, for he wishes much to see his 
relatives who are there. " But the Duke was very 
wrathful, and answered that he would give no truce 
for that purpose. And he pressed more strongly 
the mining of the wall. 

But the men of Rennes countermined till they 
broke into the English mine; and there was a long 
fight in the mine. But at last the English were 
discomfited and driven out and the mine was ruined. 
The Duke, when he heard of it, was in great wrath. 
So he held the siege still closer, so that those of 
Rennes could receive neither help nor provisions. 
And the Duke knew well that there was a great lack 
of meat in Rennes; but the men of Rennes would 
make no sortie. So the Duke thought of a scheme 
to get the garrison to come outside the walls. 
He collected about two thousand swine, and put 

13 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 



them to pasture in the meadows near the wall of 
the city. And the men of Rennes wanted to come 
out and seize the swine, but the captain would not 
allow it. And he thought of a trick to meet that of 
the Duke. He sent for a butcher and told him to 
bring a sow near the drawbridge. Then he lowered 
the bridge and just inside the wall he had the butcher 
stick the sow, which squealed loudly. And when 
the herd of swine heard it, they began to squeal too 
and ran there, and nothing could stop them from 
running into the city, and in such a crush that not 
an Englishman dared set foot on the bridge. And 
so the men of Rennes got the Duke 's swine, at which 
he was vexed enough. But they were greatly 
pleased for they had been without meat for a long 
time and would have been still longer, because the 
Duke of Lancaster had taken an oath for the siege, 
and every day the supplies in Rennes grew less, and 
they had seen no help on any side. 

Then de Pennehoet called the leaders of Rennes 
together to consider how they could get help from 
Duke Charles of Blois, who was at Nantes, but was 
a prisoner on parole, and therefore could not take 
up arms. There came to them one of the citizens, 
who had six children and nothing for them, and he 

14 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 



said, "Seigneurs! if you please, I will venture as I 
shall tell you; that is, I will go to the Duke of Lan- 
caster and will say to him that you have banished 
me and seized my property. And I will tell him 
that help is going to come to you from France very 
soon, and that the French force plans to make a 
secret attack, and that they are to come from 
Nantes; and I will show him the way that they must 
come. And if by means of this I can then escape 
from the English, I will go to Nantes to tell Duke 
Charles of Blois what straits we are in. But I ask 
you to take care of my children." 

The men of Rennes agreed to this and they made 
a sally against the English, in which the citizen of 
Rennes slipped aside, and succeeded in coming to 
the Duke of Lancaster, and said to him, "Ah! 
Monseigneur! What a hard time it will be, if 
Rennes holds out Uke this. Monseigneur! it is 
true that I am from Rennes, but those who are in 
Rennes have banished me and killed my six children 
and seized my property. And so I am trying to go 
to Nantes, hoping to have pity from the Duke who 
has paid no attention to Rennes. Monseigneur! 
you have been here a long time; but if you do not 
look out, you will^not be here much longer. For, 

15 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 



by my faith, tomorrow you will have on your hands 
a French force, which has secretly started from 
Nantes to attack you. And they are coming by 
two different ways, so as to surprise you at two 
different points. " So the Duke, on this news, set 
his men in array to receive the French. And those 
who were in Rennes made bonfires, and made the 
musicians play on the walls of the city, and made a 
great semblance of rejoicing about something. 

The citizen of Rennes succeeded in escaping from 
the English camp and took his way towards Nantes. 
The next morning he found on his way Bertrand 
and his companions, who were coming to spy out 
the English host. Bertrand knew the man, and he 
told Bertrand how it was with those in Rennes, and 
what he had told the Duke of Lancaster. That 
morning the Duke rode out on the road towards 
Nantes, hoping to meet the French. At his head- 
quarters he left tents and carts and provisions and 
a party to guard. But Bertrand attacked it, crying 
his war-cry of "GuescHn," and the English put 
themselves on the defense. And when the garrison 
saw that Bertrand was fighting with the English, 
they made a sally to help him, and the English were 
discomfited and the tents of the Duke and the carts 

16 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 



and the provisions were carried into the city, to the 
great joy of his relatives and of the whole city. 

The Duke of Lancaster soon heard of this and 
saw that he had been deceived in this and was very 
angry. So he held the siege about Rennes closer 
and closer. When Bertrand had entered Rennes, 
he set free without ransom the foreign merchants 
who were among his prisoners, who had brought 
supplies to the English host, making the men of 
Rennes pay them for the supplies which they had 
and which he had captured with them. But he 
made them promise that they would bring no more 
supplies to the Duke of Lancaster's army. Then 
he sent them to the Duke with a polite message from 
him, which they gave to the Duke. He was very 
much pleased, and said that so generous a heart 
could do no evil deed, and that Bertrand surpassed 
all the chevaliers in the world, and he wished much 
that he could see him. The Count of Pembroke, 
who was with him, said to him, "I advise you to 
send a safe-conduct to Bertrand with an invitation, 
and I know him so well that I am sure he will come. " 
So the Duke sent a herald to Rennes and invited 
Bertrand to visit him with three others, for whom 
he sent a safe-conduct. 

17 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 



So the herald came into Rennes and addressed 
the captain and asked for Bertrand. He was just 
coming up the street, clad in a black doublet which 
made no show, and carrying an axe on his shoulder; 
and the captain pointed him out to the herald. And 
the herald said, "Saint Mary! captain, he looks like 
a brigand in that array." And the captain said, 
"My friend, I advise you to speak courteously to 
him, for otherwise you will get nothing of him." 
So the captain called Bertrand; and the herald 
saluted him in the name of the Duke, and courteously 
said to him, "Sir, the Duke of Lancaster sends me 
to you! He has heard so much good of you, that 
he much desires to see you; and therefore he asks 
that you and three others would kindly come to see 
him in his quarters. Wherefore take this safe- 
conduct which he sends to you by me." 

So Bertrand gave the herald a hundred francs, 
for which the herald thanked him much, and he 
went to pay the visit to the Duke. When the 
English heard of the coming of Bertrand, they came 
out of their tents and pavilions to see him pass. And 
he came to the Duke *s tent and knelt very humbly 
before him. And the Duke at once raised him and 
thanked him very much for coming at his invitation. 

18 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 

The Duke held a long conversation with Bertrand 
and saw plainly by what he said that there was great 
bravery in him. So he wished much to draw him 
to his side; and he asked him who was his seigneur. 
*'Sire," said Bertrand, "you know well enough. 
You know that it is Monseigneur Charles of Blois, 
who, by right of his wife, holds the Duchy of Brit- 
tany." 

"My friend Bertrand," answered the Duke, 
"Charles does not yet hold the Duchy of Brittany. 
And before he could hold it a hundred thousand 
men would have to die, which would be a pity." 

Bertrand replied quickly, "I well believe that 
enough men will be killed. But at least the property 
will be left for those that remain." 

The Duke smiled at that, and said to Bertrand, 
"If you will enter my service, I will make you a 
chevalier and I will give you land enough to maintain 
your station well. " 

When Bertrand heard this he thought a little and 
said, '^'Sire, I would to God that there was a good 
peace between you princes. For truly if there was 
peace, especially with Monseigneur Duke Charles, 
whom I serve, I would be glad to do as you wish. 
But, Sire, if I had been in your service and then 

19 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 

should have left it to serve another, who was opposed 
to you, you would hold me for a traitor and disloyal, 
which must never happen." The Duke esteemed 
Bertrand highly for that reply; and he had wine 
and spices brought, with which the chevaliers were 
served. 

There was at that time in the English army 
William Brambrock, brother of Robert Brambrock, 
who had been killed when Bertrand took the Castle of 
Forgeray. He came before Bertrand and demanded 
of him a joust of three spear strokes. Bertrand 
said he would give him that or one of six strokes, if 
he was not content with three. The Duke smiled 
and said that Bertrand had given a proud answer. 
Then he said to them, "Fair sirs, since you please 
to have this joust in my presence, I wish it to be 
held tomorrow." Then came the herald to the 
Duke and said, '*Sire, I must thank you for the 
courtesy and largess which Bertrand showed me, 
for to your honor he gave me a great present." 
The Duke was much pleased with Bertrand for that, 
and thanked him much and ordered the best courser 
he had to be brought and gave it to Bertrand. 
And Bertrand said to him, *'Sire, you are the first 
prince that ever made a gift to me. I am a poor 

20 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 



man and cannot serve you, but I swear to you that 
I would willingly serve you in every case, saving 
my honor. The courser is fine and I thank you for 
it, and tomorrow I will make a trial of it in your 
presence." And then Bertrand took leave of the 
Duke and went back into the city. 

The next morning early he confessed and heard 
mass, and then he armed himself and went to the 
quarters of the Duke of Lancaster; and the Count of 
Pembroke was to keep the field. And shortly Bram- 
brock came in and afterward Bertrand. They 
mounted their horses and ran against each other with 
great force. And the first course they struck each 
other's helmets; and Brambrock was much hurt, but 
Bertrand was not, though he was dazed by the 
blow. They ran the two other courses but without 
any wound on either side. Then Bertrand was 
much vexed and he said to the Chevalier Brambrock, 
*'I have done what you requested and for the honor 
of Monseigneur the Duke, who is there, I have 
spared you; but if you want any more, more you 
shall have." Brambrock took his words in great 
dudgeon and said that he required as much again. 
So Bertrand agreed, and the joust began again, and 
with the first lance Bertrand struck Brambrock 

21 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 



with such force that his armor gave way and the 
iron of the spear struck through his body and he 
fell dead on the field. Bertrand took his horse, 
and came before the Duke to thank him and said, 
"Sire! I came here with one horse and I go away 
with two, thanks to you. " Then the Duke's herald 
came there, and when Bertrand saw him he gave 
him the horse which he had won in the joust, for 
which the Duke and his chivalry held him in great 
honor. And then Bertrand went back into Rennes, 
and there he was honorably received and feasted 
that day; but about vespers, the Duke made an 
assault on the city, and the English brought up a 
tall tower very close to the walls. When night came 
the assault drew off, but the Duke put men-at-arms 
and cross-bow men in the tower to keep it, hoping 
in the morning to begin the assault there again. 
But at daylight, as Bertrand advised, de Pennehoet 
and Bertrand and a great number of men of Rennes 
sallied out and assailed the tower and killed the 
guard, and burned the tower with Greek fire. And 
the English host assailed them fiercely, but they 
defended themselves retreating, so that without 
loss they got back into Rennes. 
Now winter approached and the Duke and the 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 



EngKsh were much worn by the siege which had 
lasted so long; and the Duke would have willingly 
raised the siege, but that he had sworn that he would 
not leave it till he had placed his pennon over the 
gate of the city. In the city they were in a great 
trouble, by reason of the great diminution of pro- 
visions; and Bertrand knew well the oath that the 
Duke had taken. So Bertrand had the chevaliers 
and barons, who were in Rennes, called together by 
his advice, and it was resolved that if the Duke of 
Lancaster, he and nine others only, would come into 
Rennes, they would open the gates to him, and that 
in order to keep his oath he might plant his pennon 
over the gates, but then he must raise the siege. 
Bertrand sent word to the Duke, who received it 
pleasantly and asked three days to consider it. 
Some of the English chevaliers advised the Duke to 
do nothing of the kind, unless the city was put at 
his command, for that they knew well the city was 
starving. But the Duke determined that he would 
go into Rennes, he and nine others, and would ride 
through the city, and he would act according to 
what he saw. And the day was agreed upon. And 
the day before that, by Bertrand 's orders, notice 
was given through th^e city that next day every one 

23 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 



should be under arms, and that all provisions, bread, 
grain, meat and fish should be displayed on the 
stalls and in the windows of the city. And on the 
day set, the Duke and nine others, chevaliers, came; 
and the captain and Bertrand met him and took him 
through the city. And when the Duke saw all the 
provisions which there were on the stalls and the 
men who were in arms throughout the city, he sent a 
herald to his headquarters to get his banners and 
pennons, which were quickly brought. And the 
Duke went up over the gate at Rennes and planted 
his banners there and then came down; and they 
brought him wine which he drank and then went 
out of the city. And as soon as he was on the outer 
side of the bridge, those, who were over the gate of 
the city, threw his banners after him, which so 
vexed the Duke that he was sorry he had made the 
agreement. But still, in order to keep his word, 
he raised the siege, since he could now do it without 
breaking his oath, and retired to the castle of Auroy 
and passed the winter there. 

After the siege was raised, Duke Charles of Blois 
came to Rennes and there learned all that Bertrand 
had done and all his bravery, and held him very 
highly prized therefor. 



THE DOG DID IT 



IN the year 1388, Charles VI was 
King of France. Difficulties in the govern- 
ment of the municipahty of the city of Paris 
had arisen, to remedy which the King 
created a new office of Provost of the Merchants, to 
which he appointed a lawyer, called Master Jean 
Juvenal des Ursins. He took up an investigation 
of the business affairs of the city which he found had 
been much neglected, and succeeded in putting them 
on a much better footing, and thereby brought him- 
self into high favor in the city. And for several 
years he showed himself a faithful, upright and 
intelligent officer, and as says the chronicler, '*He 
governed himself so well in his office that he had the 
love and favor of the King and of all the people, as 
well the church people as the nobles, the merchants 
and the commonalty," so that his influence and 
power in the court increased greatly. In 139'2, the 
King was struck by a seizure of insanity which at 
intervals recurred during the rest of his life. This 
condition of the King's health, even in his lucid 

25 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 



intervals, had a very injurious effect upon the pubUc 

affairs, and the wisdom of Des Ursins was availed of 

frequently in the effort to remedy difficulties and 

heal dissensions in the court. For as a matter of 

course, there were those who sought to take advantage 

of such a disturbed condition of affairs and to fish 

in the troubled waters. They found a powerful 

opposition to their schemes in the influence of Des 

Ursins. Some honored and prized him for the 

good work, which he was doing, but the hostiUty of 

those whose schemes of personal advantage he was 

thwarting, was thereby made more bitter, and they 

entered upon a scheme for his ruin. The Duke of 

Burgundy was known to be hostile to Des Ursins, 

who had before that time thwarted him in a purpose 

to ruin two of Des Ursins ' friends, and to the Duke 

they went with false tales that he had spoken ill of 

the Duke and others, and had done various things 

worthy of punishment. The Duke listened to them 

very gladly and beheved their stories. He had them 

put in writing and given to two commissioners of 

the criminal court to take depositions and prepare 

on them an information against Des Ursins before 

the commissioners. The conspirators produced some 

thirty witnesses, who had been carefully drilled, so 

26 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 



that their stories, though false, agreed upon the 
surface. And on a Thursday after dinner the 
commissioners came to the Duke and told him that 
the information was prepared and the document 
only needed to be engrossed. The Duke was in 
haste and he told them that there was no need of 
engrossing the papers, and that they must be taken 
to the King's attorney-general, that he might be 
ready on the following Saturday morning to present 
the case against Des Ursins before the King and his 
Council. But the attorney-general on being apphed 
to, either because he had had intimations that the 
matter was a trumped up affair, or that he was 
friendly to Des Ursins, flatly refused to have any- 
thing to do with the matter, which was therefore 
put in the hands of an advocate of the parliament, 
named Andriquet, who agreed to present the case 
on the Saturday morning to the King and council. 
The commissioners then informed the Duke that 
everything was ready, and he arranged to have Des 
Ursins summoned to appear at the appointed time. 
The commissioners left the presence of the Duke in 
high good humor, for he had not only expressed 
his satisfaction with what they had done, but had 
paid them well. A good dinner seemed to them a 

27 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 



most appropriate thing, and they were soon estab- 
Hshed before a table in a hostelry, on one side of 
which table they had laid their bundle of papers so 
that it should not incommode them in their pleasant 
occupation. The dinner was good and the wine 
was good, and they did not spare it, until at last 
their heads became muddled; and a sharp discussion 
having arisen between them and some of the fre- 
quenters of the place, one of the commissioners 
emphasized his statements by such blows on the 
table that the bundle of papers fell to the floor. 
In the heat of the discussion neither of them noticed 
its fall, and the innkeeper 's puppy, frolicking around 
the room, thought it was thrown down for him to 
play with; and seizing it in his mouth he ran into 
the innkeeper's bedroom, the door of which was 
open, and dragged it under the bed, where, finding 
it too heavy for a satisfactory plaything, he left it. 
The hour waxed late, the hour for closing arrived 
and the muddle-headed commissioners staggered 
out and betook themselves to their respective 
quarters, each of them, when the bundle of papers 
occurred to him, saying to himself that his fellow 
had it. The innkeeper also went to bed, and his 
wife, who out of deference to her lord and master 

28 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 

slept on the backside of the bed, which was pulled a 
little way from the wall, was seeking her proper place, 
when she stubbed her toe on an unexpected object. 
Her outcry startled her husband to whom she 
explained that she had hit something, which she, 
stooping, picked up and gave to him. He, seeing 
that it was a bundle of papers, opened it and to his 
amazement, found that it contained an information 
charging various crimes upon P.ovost Des Ursins, 
and depositions in support of it. He held the 
Provost in high regard, and he at once appreciated 
the importance of his discovery. So up he rose and 
donned his clothes, and hastened with his prize to 
the Hotel de Ville, where, on his earnest representa- 
tions, he was admitted to the presence of the Provost, 
who rose from his bed to give him audience, for it 
was about midnight. The innkeeper exhibited the 
papers, and explained how the wine which the 
commissioners had drunk and the antic of his dog, 
and the stubbing of his wife's toe had put him in 
possession of them. The Provost thanked him 
most warmly for the service rendered, and the inn- 
keeper returned home having been warned to keep 
silence about the matter, and the Provost, having 
made himself familiar with the papers, returned to 

29 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 



his bed to wait for the explosion of the mine which 
the papers disclosed, and against which he was 
made, by this accident, able to countermine. He 
did not have long to wait, for before he got up in 
the morning an officer came to summon him to 
appear before the King and his council at 9 o'clock 
on the following Saturday morning. The Duke and 
his followers were so sure of their success that they 
arranged the prison in which the Provost should be 
at once shut up, and the report was spread, to the 
astonishment of everybody, that the Provost was 
in danger of losing his head. 

At the appointed time Des Ursins appeared but 
not alone, for he was accompanied by three or four 
hundred of the best citizens of Paris, and somewhat 
to the surprise of his opponents he did not seem to 
be at all disturbed. Andriquet set forth to the King 
the charges which had been made against the Pro- 
vost and supported by witnesses and on which an 
information had been presented, as he said, for 
various crimes of which Des Ursins had thus been 
shown to be guilty. When Andriquet ceased, Des 
Ursins rose to speak, but Andriquet objected. He 
said the matter was so serious that it should go before 
a high tribunal, before which Des Ursins would have 

30 



Stones from Old French Chronicles 



his opportunity to be heard, and meanwhile he should 
be put in prison and held there till such hearing 
could be had. But the Eang closed the discussion 
by saying that he would hear the Provost. Des 
Ursins then took up the various charges, denying 
each of them and claiming that they had been 
trumped up against him, and adding that against 
an officer of the King no proceeding could be taken 
except by information, and notwithstanding what 
Master Andriquet had said, he did not believe that 
any information had been drawn or any depositions 
had been taken against him. Andriquet, with a 
smile of superiority, said he would soon show that 
what he had said was true, and turning to the com- 
missioners who stood behind him said, '* Give me the 
papers." Hasty whispers passed between them. 
"You have got them. " "No ! I have not. " "You 
must have them," until with faces of dismay they 
were obliged to say that they did not have the 
papers and did not know what had become of them. 
The King, who watched their embarrassment with 
amusement, waited until Andriquet in great embar- 
rassment admitted that he could not produce any 
information or depositions, and he then pronounced 
his sentence in the affair. 

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*'I decide that my Provost is an upright man and 
those who have set up these things are bad people." 

And turning to Des Ursins he said, *'You may 
go, my friend. And you too, my good citizens." 

The rage of the conspirators and the dismay of 
the commissioners may be imagined. Their dismay 
extended to the witnesses, who perceived the favor 
in which Des Ursins was held by the King, and 
when told by the commissioners that they must come 
again and testify as they did before, they flatly 
refused and said that the King had decided that 
Des Ursins was an upright man, and they would do 
nothing further against him. The false witnesses 
could not help considering that the Provost, if he 
had knowledge of what they had done, might make 
things serious for them, and they took counsel 
together as to how to guard themselves from that 
danger. They concluded that, if any such proceed- 
ings were begun, they would be in a better position, 
if they could appear as being penitent for the sin they 
had committed in perjuring themselves, and as having 
been absolved for that by authority of the church. 
So they went to a priest and in confession told him 
what they had done and begged to be absolved from 
their sins. But the priest easily perceived that it 

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was not an ordinary case of awakened consciences, 
and he refused to absolve them, teUing them they 
must go to the Bishop of Paris. They did so, but 
the bishop also told them that their case was so bad 
and important that he did not dare to give them 
absolution; and he advised them to go to Cardinal 
de Luna, who was then in Paris as legate from the 
pope. To the cardinal they went, and he being, 
as legate, not as apprehensive of running counter 
to the Provost as had been the priest and the bishop, 
heard their confession and gave them absolution, 
but he laid upon them as a penance that on the 
morning of Good Friday, they must all appear 
naked before Des IJrsins' gate, acknowledge their 
fault and beg his forgiveness. 

"But," said they, "if we appear there naked he 
will recognize us. " 

So the cardinal gave them permission to have 
their heads wrapped up to conceal their faces. 

When Des Ursins, on the morning of Good Friday, 
went out of his gate to go to early church, he found 
before him an astonishing spectacle of some thirty 
men, naked except that their heads were covered so 
as to hide their faces, who cried for mercy. To his 
inquiry as to what they wanted mercy for, one of 

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them, who had been selected as spokesman, told him 
that they were those who had testified against him, 
and that their stories had been false, and that having 
confessed their sin in the matter they had been 
absolved from it, but with this laid upon them to 
appear thus before him and ask his forgiveness. 
And all of them with cries and tears joined in the 
prayer. 

"But," said he, "who are you, who thus appear 
before me. " 

Said the spokesman, "He, who laid this penance 
on us, gave us the privilege of not giving you our 
names. " 

"It is no matter," said Des Ursins, "I know the 
names of every one of you. You are such a one. 
You are such a one. But let me see if you are all 
here." And remembering the number of the wit- 
nesses against him, he counted them and found the 
tally complete. 

And so, considering that the part of mercy was 
the wise one, he gave them his forgiveness, which 
they received with humble obeisance, with tears in 
their eyes and cries of thanks, and very speedily 
they disappeared. 

Des Ursins filled the ofiice of Provost for several 

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years after with great consideration and respect. 
The manner of the mysterious disappearance of the 
information papers was still a secret for long, but 
finally, when the affair had become past history, 
it became known. And when Des Ursins spoke of 
it to his friends, it was not unnatural that he should 
have ended the story with the words, "The Dog 
Did It." 



35 



LA HIRE'S PRAYER 



IN the year 1428, the Counts of Warwick and 
Suffolk, with a large force of Englishmen, and 
their aUies, besieged Montargis, a city about 
fifty miles south of Paris. It was held by a 
Gascon gentleman named Bouzon de Failles, with 
a vaUant company. The EngUsh made their siege 
works so close that no one could get in or out of the 
city without great difficulty, and on the outside of 
their works, they made ditches and hedges, leaving 
some open spots, through which the English camps 
could be entered. The English pressed the siege 
strongly, and with their bombards and cannon 
broke the walls in divers places. Those within the 
city defended themselves bravely and held out a 
long time; but their provisions began to give out, 
and it became clear that they could not hold out 
much longer. This becoming known to the Count 
de Richemont, constable of France, and to Count 
Dunois, they got together provisions and as large a 
force as they could, among whom were the Seigneurs 
de Graville, de Gancourt, Estienne de Vignoles, 

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called La Hire, and others. They considered how 
they might put the provisions into the city, and 
concluded that, if they should make a strong skir- 
mish in one place, they might throw the provisions 
in on the other side. So the constable went towards 
one side, and Dunois, with whom was La Hire, 
towards the other. La Hire, with sixty lances, was 
directed to move in front of the English works, to 
find out their position; and Dunois promised to 
follow him; and there was with La Hire a Scotch 
captain, named Quennede (Kennedy) and the 
Abbott of Serquencions, with three or four thousand 
footmen. The English had fortified their lines out- 
side with ditches and piles, along which they had 
built their huts covered mth bushes and dry grass. 
When La Hire approached the fines, he saw that it 
would be a very difficult thing to force them, but 
he saw a passage through which it seemed that they 
might break in. So he and his companions put 
their lances in rest to charge through it. Near La 
Hire was a chaplain, whom he called and told him to 
give him absolution at once. The chaplain said he 
must first confess his sins. La Hire repfied that he 
had no time for that, for they were just about to 
charge the enemy; and that he had done what men 

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of war were accustomed to do. Thereupon the 
chaplain gave him absolution, for what it was worth ; 
and then La Hire made his prayer to God, saying in 
Gascon, having joined his hands, "God! I pray Thee 
today to do for La Hire, as much as Thou wouldst 
wish La Hire to do for Thee, if he were God and thou 
wert LaHire." 

And he considered that he had prayed and said 
well. Then he and his companions charged through 
the entrance into the EngUsh Hues, followed by the 
men on foot. The English were surprised at dinner; 
but they called "To Arms'* at once, and fought 
valiantly; but the French set fire to the EngHsh 
huts and forced their attack on both sides of the 
city so that by nightfall the EngHsh were discomfited. 
The siege was raised and the city delivered. And 
this was, as was said, a very valiant enterprise, 
brought to success by the said Estienne de Vignoles, 
called La Hire. 



A CONSPIRACY AND AN AMBUSCADE 

1. The Conspiracy 

FRANCOIS DE SCARPEAUX, Sire de 
Vieilleville, was one of the best soldiers of 
France in the wars in Italy between the 
Emperor Charles V and King Francis I. 
He was so brave a soldier and also so wise in strategy 
and so shrewd in judgment that the Emperor gave 
him the name of "The Lion-Fox," a soubriquet 
which he retained all his life. After the death of 
Francis I, his son, Henry II, in the year 1552, 
appointed de Vieilleville to be governor of the city of 
Metz, a city near the northwestern boundary of 
France, and about twenty-five or thirty miles south 
of the city of Luxembourg, which was held by the 
Imperialists, with a strong garrison under the com- 
mand of the Count de Mesgue. The state of war 
between France and the Empire still subsisted; and 
these two governors of the two cHies watched each 
other across the border, ready to attack each other, 
or defend. The "Lion-Fox" felt the necessity for 

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increased watchfulness, because some reforms, which 
he had made in Metz as governor, had raised a 
spirit of faction among some of the citizens against 
him, and the strict disciphne v/hich he had enforced 
upon his soldiers had made some of the worse elements 
among them dissatisfied with his rule. 

Now there was in Metz a monastery of cordeliers, 
who were called Observantins, who had come to 
Metz from a place in Flanders, called Nyvelles. 
Their guardian often went to Nyvelles to visit his 
relatives, and when there went to pay his respects to 
Queen Mary of Hungary, who was Regent of the 
Emperor in Flanders, and talked with her about 
affairs in Metz and in Germany and France, and 
became really a spy for her. She, seeing his disposi- 
tion, one day asked him if anything could be under- 
taken against Metz, and if so, how. The monk 
told her it would not be very difficult, by reason of 
the dissatisfaction among the soldiers and the 
citizens, the causes of which he explained to her. 
And he told her that, if she would furnish him thirty 
faithful and experienced soldiers, he would bring 
them into Metz two by two disguised as cordeliers; 
and he would hope within two months to render a 
great service to the emperor, for she could send 

40 



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reinforcements to the Count de Mesgue, and on a 
certain night the count's force could come and scale 
the walls of Metz at a place where they were low, 
while he, the monk, would set fire to a hundred 
houses on the opposite side of the city, to which 
everybody would run, to help put out the fire, while 
the monks would come to help the escalade, and more 
than a thousand of the garrison would rise and cry 
"Liberty! Liberty! Death! Death! Kill that villain 
Vieilleville. " But he required a promise that he 
should be made bishop of Metz, after it was captured. 
The regent gave him the promise and a rich ring and 
five hundred crowns to meet the expense. 

The monk was so diligent that in less than three 
weeks he had brought all the men he had asked for 
into his monastery disguised as cordeliers, and had 
gained over all the real monks, twenty in number, 
by promises of personal advantage; and they all 
performed ceremonies in the churches and houses 
so sanctimoniously that they were none of them 
discovered to be soldiers. 

But the word came to de Vieilleville from a trusty 
servant, whom he was maintaining in Luxembourg, 
that the Queen Regent of Flanders was sending to 
the Count de Mesgue, twelve hundred chosen, 

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well-equipped arquebusmen, eight hundred good 
cavalry and a great number of the nobility of the 
Low Countries; and moreover the count had given 
orders to get ready twenty thousand rations; so 
that there must be some enterprise on foot, 
though the agent had not been able to find out what 
it was; that two cordehers had come and had a long 
interview with the count, and the report was that 
they came from Brussels, though he did not know if 
that was true, but he sent the word to de Vieilleville 
that he might think it over. 

The Lion-Fox made no delay. He quietly went 
with a guard to the monastery of the regular corde- 
liers. He sent for the guardian and inquired how 
many of them were there, had them all ordered to 
appear in the church, and counting them found that 
none were missing. He then went to the Observantin 
Convent and asked to see the guardian. The monks 
told him the guardian had gone to Nyvelles to bury 
his brother. He asked how many there were of 
them and where they were. They told him that 
three or four were in the city asking alms. But 
de Vieilleville noticed that they turned pale and 
seemed embarrassed, and he locked all the doors 
and searched through the convent, and in one of the 

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rooms he found two of the false cordeliers who were 
sick. But the clothes of the bed where they were 
lying were fine for monks, and their breeches were 
shaped like soldiers' breeches and their doublets 
which lay on the bed, were in colors. So they were 
seized at once, and by threatening them with instant 
death, which they saw before them, for the thumbs 
were on the locks of the arquebuses, they were made 
to tell at once who they were, and who made them 
come there and for what business. They freely 
confessed that they were not cordeliers, although 
they had their heads tonsured, but that the Queen 
of Hungary had told them to do whatever the 
guardian ordered; that they did not know on what 
business he wanted to employ them, but hoped to 
know when he came back from Luxembourg, whither 
he had gone. De Vieilleville concluded that the two 
monks who had had the conference with Count de 
Mesgue were of this fraternity. He at once gave 
orders that all the city gates should be shut, except 
the Yffroy Bridge gate which opened towards 
Luxembourg, and he put Captain Amezan with a 
number of arquebusmen in charge of the monastery 
with orders to let no one go out, but to seize and 
hold as prisoners, when they came, those who were 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 



out in the city, which the captain faithfully did. 
He then went to the Yffroy Bridge Gate, which 
was in charge oi Captain Salcede, and from there he 
sent word to Madam Vieiileville to have dinner with- 
out waiting for him or asking where he was or what 
he was doing. He sent all his guards to get their 
dinners, keeping with himself one gentleman, a 
page and a lackey, and staying himself among the 
soldiers v*^ho were to guard the gate. He sent word 
to Captain Salcede, telling him, if he had not dined, 
to bring the dinner whatever it was, without adding 
anything, and they would eat it together at the 
gate, which he was not going to leave till some one 
whom he was expecting came; and the captain was 
to ask no questions, but come at once with what 
he had, even if it was only garlic and radishes, 
Spanish fashion, for Salcede was born in Spain. 
He, much excited, came at once with his dinner, 
which was passably good, and they had no sooner 
disposed of it than the sentinel reported that there 
were two cordeliers on horseback coming full trot. 
De Vieiileville took a halberd and went out of 
the gate and stood at the barrier with two soldiers 
only, ordering all the rest to keep back. The 
monk, who was the guardian, recognizing him, 

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Stories from Old Freyich Chronicles 



was astonished to see him there, doing the duty 
of a soldier, and got off his horse. De Vieilleville 
told him to come to Salcede's quarters, as he 
had something to say to him, and he took 
thither both of the monks, under guard of two 
soldiers. When they were in the captain's room, 
de Vieilleville put everyone out but the captain and 
his lieutenant and then said to the monk, "Well! 
Master Hypocrite! So you have been conferring 
with the Count de Mesgue! You must tell me 
what you have been negotiating with him about, or 
die at once. If you will confess the truth I will give 
you your life, even if you have been plotting against 
mine. You cannot go to your monastery. It is 
full of soldiers and all your monks are prisoners. 
Two of them have confessed that they are not monks 
but soldiers, who came here by order of the Queen 
of Hungary. Come, tell the truth quick, or else 
make your confessions to each other, for you will 
not live an hour. " 

The poor guardian saw, by what the governor 
said, that he had a good deal of light upon the plot ; 
but, falling on his knees, he denied that he had done 
anything wrong. He said the two men, of whom 
the governor spoke, were relations of his, who had 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 

killed their brother in a quarrel over the inheritance, 
and he had brought them to Metz as cordeliers to 
save them. "See!" said de Vieilleville, "how this 
villain knows how to disguise his plot." As he 
said this, there came a soldier from the captain, 
whom he had left in charge of the monastery, and 
brought word that there had come there six more 
cordehers who all of them wore, under their monk's 
clothes, doublets and breeches like soldiers, and 
that he held them all as prisoners. "Well!" said de 
Vieilleville to the guardian, "had these fellows too 
killed their brother? I swear by the living God 
that you shall tell at once what is hid under all 
this, or I will make you suffer well before you die." 
And he ordered at once that the monk should be 
tied up until the provost should come to put him to 
the question. 

The cordelier seeing that he could not escape and 
that his treachery was more than half discovered, 
prostrated himself again and begged for pardon, 
saying that the glory of the world and ambition had 
led him astray, but he would tell the truth provided 
it was the governor's good pleasure to give him his 
life. De Vieilleville answered that he would have 
his life and the truth too, for he knew the way to get 

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it. Still if the monk would swear to confess every- 
thing trulj^ about this whole enterprise, he promised, 
on the faith of a gentleman of honor, to send him 
back to his own country free and without disgrace, 
and to pardon those whom he had employed in the 
matter. And he showed the monk the letter of his 
agent in Luxembourg (at seeing which the monk was 
overpowered) and told him he himself had been at 
the gate as a soldier for fear there should be a failure 
to catch him when he came. 

So the monk, as if he was already half condemned, 
began to say that he saw plainly that God was 
helping the governor and keeping the city for him, 
for without this information the city would have 
been lost to the King and won for the emperor that 
very day, for all the troops mentioned in the letter 
from Luxembourg were only six leagues from Metz, 
near Mt. St. Jean, and were to march thence without 
stopping, so as to be at nine o'clock in the evening, 
before the walls of the city at Yffroy Bridge. 

"For," said he, "I was to set fire to a hundred or 
more houses on the other side of the city. And it 
is certain that everybody would have run thither 
to put the fire out, and in the tumult and fright those 
forces would make the escalade, and the thirty 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 

soldiers would help them on one side on the rampart 
and my twenty monks on the other. And they have 
with them twelve cartloads of ladders of the right 
length." 

Whereupon de Vieilleville ordered a captain to 
take the monk and keep him a close prisoner and 
let no one communicate with him, to ensure which 
the captain locked him up in a wardrobe in his own 
quarters. 

2. The Ambuscade 

The Lion-Fox came to an instant determination. 
He sent certain orders to his lieutenant and to six 
captains of his garrison. He ordered a sergeant- 
major to take fifty fagots to each of the open spaces 
at four of the gates of the city, and between 6 and 7 
o'clock that evening to set fire to them all. He 
armed himself and with ten or twelve gentlemen of 
his house, also armed, he went to the Yffroy Bridge 
gate, where, in a short space of time, the troops 
gathered whom, in obedience to his orders, the six 
captains had silently brought there. There were 
three companies of cavalry, two hundred halberdiers 
and three hundred arquebusmen, with about 
twenty drums. De Vieilleville put himself at their 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 



head, and led them without sound of drum or trumpet 
about a league out from the city, having with him 
Captain la Plante, an excellent guide who knew the 
whole region better than the men who lived there. 
Calling the captains together, he told them the plot 
which he had discovered and that the Imperialists 
were then, as he beheved, on the march towards 
Metz, and that he proposed to ambush them on the 
way and fight them even if they were three to one. 
Captain la Plante told him he would take them to a 
wood about a league away, which was a suitable 
place for the ambush. He led them to a village, 
just beyond which was a wood alongside of the road 
for quite a distance, and where several roads led in 
several directions. De Vieilleville divided his small 
force into six detachments. One he put in the 
village, others he pliaced on the side roads, a company 
of halberd men he hid in the bushes beside the road 
(not putting the arquebuses there lest the smell of 
their matches should excite the enemies' attention) 
and a company of horse under his lieutenant on 
the road towards the city, behind whom he took his 
own station with forty horse and his suite. He 
divided the drums between the various detachments, 
and he sent la Plante forward to reconnoiter and 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 



report the coming of the enemy. In about an hour 
and a half la Plante returned at full speed and said 
that they were coming at a rapid rate, and that they 
must have learned of the fire in Metz, for he had 
seen it himself. Before long the vanguard of the 
Imperialists entered the wood and the halberd men 
heard them talking to each other. One said, "Let 
us hurry on! We are late!" Another, '*Mon 
Dieu, we shall be rich today. What a great service 
we shall do the emperor." Another, "We shall 
make him ashamed, for with three thousand men 
we shall do what he could not do when he besieged 
the city with a hundred thousand." At their head 
marched arquebusmen with the carts of ladders 
and the baggage, behind them a company of cavalry 
with de Mesgue at their head, who was heard to 
say, "We must hurry. I have seen the light of the 
fire. Our delay may be a harm. March on! 
March on!" Because of the hurry they did not 
keep their ranks, but marched pell-mell. And 
behind them came seven or eight hundred horsemen 
of the nobles of the Low Countries, who were volun- 
teers. All were so little on their guard that the 
nobles had given their helmets and lances to their 
valets to carry for them. 

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Then all at once the ambuscade broke into activi- 
ty. The lieutenant with his cavalry charged down 
the road from Metz upon them, the halberdmen 
sprang out of the bushes upon them; the arquebus- 
men shot them down hke flies, and what with the 
shouts of "France! France! Vieille ville ! Charge! 
Charge!" on every hand and the noise of the guns and 
the roar of the drums, echoed and re-echoed by the 
depths of the wood, any orders which the Count de 
Mesgue or his captains gave could not be heard. 
Whichever way the Imperialists undertook to make 
head they were met by a new detachment, and after 
several ineffectual efforts, the frightened men, 
thinking that the whole garrison of Metz was upon 
them, broke and ran in every direction every man 
for himself, while the French pursued and cut them 
down in their flight, with terrible loss. Eleven 
hundred and forty-five were left dead on the spot 
and four hundred were made prisoners, and the rest 
scattered far and wide, with a loss to the French of 
only fifteen killed and a very few wounded. 

When the rout was complete, de Vieilleville and 
his troop of cavalry placed themselves on the road 
to Thionville from which place alone, about three 
leagues away, could any help come to the defeated 

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host. They halted there about an hour, while the 
soldiers stripped the dead, made the prisoners 
secure, caught the horses that were running wild 
and took possession of the baggage and the carts, 
among which those with the ladders were not for- 
gotten. The retreat was then sounded and by the 
light of the moon, which was a Uttle past the full, 
they returned to the city in good order. De Vieille- 
ville sent two messengers ahead, one to tell Madame 
de Vieilleville that she need not be worried about 
him, and the other to spread the news of the victory 
and have the church bells rung, for it was nearly 
midnight, and prayers of thanksgiving offered, 
which was done. And that night few people in 
Metz slept at all, for the celebrating of the saving 
of the city. 

The next morning the provost came to the gover- 
nor, with his report in the case of the cordeUers, who 
had all, fifty in number, been found guilty of treason, 
so that all that remained to be done was to fix their 
punishment and declare how and where it should be 
executed. But the governor said he did not think 
it was reasonable that the thirty soldiers should die, 
who had come in under orders, though they might be 
hung as spies, inasmuch as they had come in under 

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disguise as cordeliers, and them he would pardon. 
But they must have something to remember, and 
therefore the provost must make them march next 
morning through the city from the cathedral, three 
by three, each having a white stick in his hand, his 
head bare and the cordelier's habit over his arm. A 
trumpeter on horseback must go before them and 
proclaim that these were the monks of the Queen 
of Hungary who had undertaken the capture and 
burning of the city, but had failed, thanks to God, 
and that they were therefore banished forever from 
the city of Metz, and would be hung if they were 
ever caught there. And so they were to be brought 
to the Yffroy Bridge gate and put out of the city. 

Just then word was brought to the governor that 
a trumpeter had appeared before the gate and had 
blown three summonses, and it was understood that 
he had come from the Count de Mesgue. De Vieille- 
ville ordered him to be brought in and when he 
appeared said to him, "Well! what says the Count 
de Mesgue? He has had monk enough, has he 
not?" The trumpeter was too abashed to reply, but 
de Vieille ville said to him," Speak up boldly, trumpe- 
ter! You know that people of your quality may 
say what they like. At any rate I give you leave. " 

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So the trumpeter plucked up courage and answered, 
"Yes, by God, we have had monk enough. And 
may the whole monkery be cursed and given to all 
the devils, when it undertakes to do anything but 
say prayers. The count, my poor master, is in bed 
sick today. He said this morning when he sent 
me off, that it was only losing men to undertake 
anything against that Uon-fox, de Vieilleville, and 
that it was great folly in him to have marched on an 
enterprise got up only by women and monks, in 
which he has lost so many good, illustrious men, and 
he would never do it again. And he has given me 
this list of people of reputation to learn if they are 
dead or prisoners. " 

So the governor ordered all the prisoners to be 
brought out into a public square, and went through 
their ranks with the trumpeter to see if those on 
the list were there. But he did not find them and 
said that the Emperor had lost more than thirty of 
the great lords of the Low Countries and the Empire. 
He was kept in the city till the next morning to see 
the procession of the false cordeliers, and then he 
departed taking with him direction for the ransom- 
ing of those who had been captured in the fight. 

It remains to tell the fate of the cordeliers, who 

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were held in close prison, where they had leisure to 
reflect on their sins and to indulge in the hope that, 
at some time, they would be set free and discharged 
of the condemnation for treason which hung over 
them. But it happened that a very short time after 
this de Vieilleville was called to court, where he 
received great honors from the King; and as he was 
to be absent from Metz for some months, a new 
governor was sent there in his place. As soon as 
the monks heard this they lost all hope, for they had 
no promise from the new governor. And so one 
evening the provost came and told them that they 
had better hear each other 's confessions, for the next 
day would be their last. And in order that they 
might be free to clear their consciences in this way, 
he took them out of the dungeons and left them all 
together pell-mell. But he had no sooner gone 
than they began to berate the guardian and four 
others of the older ones, who had helped him to 
seduce them to enter into the plot, telHng them 
with many hard epithets that it was their wicked 
ambition to be bishops and abbots that had ruined 
them. One word led to another and finally, carried 
away by rage, the sixteen fell upon the guardian 
and the four with such fury that the guardian died 

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on the spot, and the four were so hurt that they had 
to be carried to the place of execution the next 
morning in the cart, where they were hung and ten 
others with them, all in their monk's robes. Four 
of them, being young and as it were, novices, made 
their amends with cords around their necks, torches 
in their hands, barefoot and on their knees during 
the execution, after which they were driven out of the 
city and sent to Flanders to tell the news to the Queen 
of Hungary. King Henry thoroughly approved 
of this execution and said he should never forget 
the day of the ambuscade, which was one of the most 
remarkable and memorable actions that there had 
been in France for three hundred years. And there 
came out of the affair a proverb for the people of the 
court, for, if they saw pages or lackeys fighting, 
they said they were hearing each other's confessions 
like the cordehers of Metz. 



56 



BAYARD'S FIRST TOURNAMENT, OR 
THE ABBE'S OVERSIGHT 

PIERRE DUTERRAIL, called the Cheva- 
lier Bayard, from the name of his paternal 
estate, and the Good Chevalier without 
Fear and without Reproach, from the 
excellence of his character, was born in Dauphiny. 
When he was thirteen years old, his father, who was 
advanced in years, called his two sons to him and 
asked them what they wished to do with their lives. 
George, the oldest, said he did not want to go away 
from home, and his father said," Well! since you love 
the house, you shall stay here and fight the bears.'* 
Pierre said he wished to follow arms, as so many of 
his ancestors had done. The father then called in 
some of his friends, among whom was the bishop 
of Grenoble, a kinsman, to take counsel as to what 
should be done. The bishop proposed that Pierre 
should be offered as a page to Charles, Duke of 
Savoy, to whom he would himself take the boy. 
His proposal was acceptable, and the next day, the 
boy of thirteen left home and parents, in the bishop's 

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train, and mounted on a good horse which the 
bishop had given him. He had skill in horseman- 
ship, which attracted the attention and praise of 
the Duke of Savoy, who took him as one of his pages, 
and afterwards of Charles VIII, King of France, 
to whom the Duke presented him. As the old 
Chronicler says, he rode his horse "as if he had been 
a man of thirty years, one who all his life had seen 
war. " The King accepted him as one of his pages, 
but placed him in the family of the Seigneur de 
Ligny at Lyons, where he remained till he was 
eighteen years old, when he ceased to be a page and 
was counted as one of de Ligny 's company. Shortly 
afterwards the King came to Lyons and, while he 
was there, a Burgundian noble called Claude de 
Vauldray, who was skilled in arms, came to the 
King and asked leave to offer a jousting to the 
young gentlemen of the court. The King granted 
his request, and, as was the custom in such things, 
de Vauldray hung up three shields at the jousting 
place, one of which was to be touched by whoever 
wished to compete with him in the joust, whether 
on horseback with headless lances or with iron- 
pointed lances or on foot with axes, the names of com- 
petitors being taken down by Montjoy, king of arms. 

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Now it happened, one day, that Pierre, with one 
of his companions named Bellabre, passing by those 
shields, showed such a grave face that Bellabre asked 
him what was the matter. He answered, "I would 
like to touch those shields of Messire Claude, but I 
do not know who would furnish me the horse and 
accoutrements which I should need, if I did." 
Bellabre said, "Are you anxious about that, my 
friend? Have you not your uncle, the Abbe of 
Esnay.^ We will go to him and if he will not furnish 
the money that you will need, we will take his 
cross and mitre off him. But I think he will do it 
willingly." So Pierre went and touched the shields. 
Montjoy, when he saw him, said in surprise, "Why! 
my friend! you have not got a beard that is three 
years old, and do you undertake the combat with 
Messire Claude, who is one of the stiffest chevahers 
that we know?" "Montjoy, my friend," answered 
he, "I do not do it for pride or vanity, but only 
because I wish to learn something from those who 
can teach. God, if He pleases, can grant me grace, 
so that I shall do something which will please the 
ladies. " Thereat Montjoy laughed and was content. 

The next morning, the two young men took a 
small boat and went down the river to Esnay. The 

59 



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first man they met there was the ahh6 who was 
walking in the close with one of the monks and saying 
his prayers. He had heard that his nephew had 
touched the shields of de Vauldray and suspected 
that he was going to be called on for funds, so he 
gave them not a very cordial reception, but address- 
ing his nephew said, **Ha! Scapegrace! who gave 
you the boldness to touch those shields of de Vaul- 
dray? It is not three days since you were a page 
and you are not seventeen or eighteen years old. 
They ought to give you the stick for showing such 
pride." Pierre answered, "I assure you, Monsei- 
gneur, that it was not pride that made me doit. 
The desire to attain by virtuous deeds to the honor 
which your predecessors and mine have reached, 
has led me to do it. And I ask you, who are the 
only relative or friend to whom I can have recourse, to 
help me with some money so that I may get what is 
necessary. " 

"My faith!" said the abb6, "you will go else- 
where to find someone to lend you money. What 
the founders of this abbey gave their gifts for was 
the service of God and not to be expended for jousts 
and tourneys." 

"But, Monseigneur!" broke in Bellabre, "if it 

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were not for the virtues and deeds of your prede- 
cessors, you would not be abbe of Esnay. Your 
nephew wished to get on in the same way and you 
ought to help him. It would not cost you more 
than two hundred crowns to put him in good shape 
and he will bring honor to you which will be worth 
more than ten thousand." 

Quite a discussion followed, but finally the abb6 
yielded and agreed to help. He went and got a 
hundred crowns, which he gave to Bellabre, saying, 
"There, young man, I give you that to buy a couple 
of horses for this valiant man-at-arms. His beard 
is too young for him to handle money. And I will 
write to Laurenien to furnish him with what he 
needs to accoutre himself for this tourney." "You 
do well," said Bellabre, "and I assure you that, when 
it shall be known, everyone will honor you for it." 

So the abb^ wrote the note for Laurenien as he 
had said, and gave it to them; and the young fellows, 
after thanking him very humbly for what he had 
done, returned to their boat in great glee to go back 
to Lyons. When they had got fairly away, Bellabre 
said, "Do you know, my companion, that, when 
God sends good fortune to a man, he must use it 
wisely and well. What one gets out of the monks 

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is blessed bread. Now we have got a letter to 
Laurenien telling him to furnish to you what you 
need, and we must go to him at once before your 
abh6 thinks what he has done, for he has not put 
in the letter any limit on the amount of the accoutre- 
ments that he is to give you. By the faith of my 
body, you will get enough for the tourney and for a 
year besides, or you never ought to have another 
thing." 

Pierre, with a laugh, said, '* Faith! that is the 
situation. Now, we must hurry, for I fear that the 
abbe may see what he has done and send one of his 
people at once to name the amount to which he 
means me to be supplied." So they hurried the 
boatman and went straight to Laureniens' shop. 
He was a very honest and good merchant. After 
they had saluted each other, Bellabre said to him, 
"By my soul. Sire Laurenien, my companion and I 
have just come from seeing a good abbe, Monseigneur 
Esnay. " "That he is," said Laurenien, "and I am 
one of his good servants. I have dealt with him up 
to twenty thousand francs, and I never found a 
rounder man." "But you do not know," said 
Bellabre, "what a good thing he has done for his 
nephew, my companion here. He has learned that 

6^ 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 

Pierre had touched the shield of Messire Claude de 
Vauldray, because he wished to gain honor, as his 
ancestors had. We went to see the abbe this 
morning and he gave his nephew three hundred 
crowns to buy horses; and besides, in order that 
there shall not be any man in the company better 
fitted out, he gave us a letter to you, to furnish him 
whatever will be necessary." They showed the 
letter and he, knowing the abbe's signature, said, 
'*I assure you, gentlemen, that there is nothing here 
which is not at your service." So he showed them 
cloth of gold, cloth of silver, brocaded satins, velvets 
and silks, of which they selected as much as came to 
seven or eight hundred francs, and they then took 
leave of him and sent at once to get tailors to make 
up the goods, for it was only three days to the 
tourney, and there were six suits to be made, because 
Pierre wanted his companion to wear the same 
costume as himself. 

Then Bellabre said that they must get horses and 
he knew a man who had two which he thought would 
do, and he thought the man would be glad to sell, 
because he had broken his leg a few days ago. So 
they went and saw the man and found that he would 
sell, tried the horses and found them satisfactory, 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 

and gave him for two a hundred and twenty crowns 
and ten for a tip to the servant. 

Now it happened that the abb^ of Esnay had 
company to dinner that day, and during the dinner 
he remarked to one of his friends, "I had a terrible 
squeeze this morning. That boy, my nephew, de 
Bayard, has been so fooHsh as to touch the shields 
of Messire Claude, and he came to me this morning 
to ask money to get an outfit. So I am out a 
hundred crowns, and besides that I gave him an 
order on Laurenien to give him what he should want 
for an outfit." The Sacristan, who was one of the 
company, said, "On my faith, Monseigneur! you 
have done a good thing. Your nephew wants to 
follow in the steps of your grandfather who was a 
valiant man-of-arms, as were his relatives. I see 
only one thing that is bad about it. You have 
written to Laurenien, you say, to give him what he 
shall ask for, and I am sure that Laurenien would 
do it, if he asked for two thousand crowns' worth. 
I am afraid that he may get more than you meant 
he should." The abb^ caught at the remark and 
said, "By St. Jacques, Sacristan! you are right, for 
I did not put in any limit. Call the steward!" 
The steward came and the abb^ said to him, " Some- 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 



one else will attend to serving us. Do you go to the 
city to Laurenien at once, and tell him that I wrote 
him this morning to give some things to my nephew, 
de Bayard, to fit him out for Messire Claude's 
tourney, and that he must give him not more than 
a hundred or a hundred and twenty francs' worth. 
And don't delay." The steward hastened to 
Laurenien, whom he found at table and who gave 
him welcome and said to him, "You have come at 
the right time. Wash your hands and do as we are 
doing." The steward thanked him, but said he 
had not come for that, but about the letter which 
the abb6 had given him telling him to furnish an 
outfit for his nephew. Laurenien interrupted him, 
"I have done it already," said he. "I assure you 
that I have put him in good order. He is a very 
honorable young gentleman and Monseigneur does 
well to help him." "How much have you let him 
have?" said the steward. "I do not know," said 
he, "without looking at my list and the receipt on 
the back of the monseigneur 's letter. But I should 
think it was about eight hundred francs." "By 
our Lady, you have spoiled it all, " cried the steward. 
"How so?" said Laurenien. "Because," said he, 
"my master sends word to you by me not to let 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 



him have more than an hundred or an hundred and 
twenty francs." "His letter did not say so/' said 
Laurenien. "And if he had asked for more than 
that, he should have had it, for that was what the 
letter said." "Well! it cannot be helped now," 
said the steward, and back he went to the abb6 and 
said, "I was too late. Your nephew had already 
made his trade and has only taken goods worth 
eight hundred francs." "Eight hundred francs! 
eight hundred francs!" said the abb6. "What a 
young reprobate! But you know where he lives. 
Go and tell him if he does not quickly give back to 
Laurenien what he has got, he shall never be a 
penny the better for me. " Back went the steward, 
but the young fellow had expected such a thing and 
had given orders that, if any one from the abb6 of 
Esnay asked for him, they must make some excuse, 
so that he should not see him. So when the steward 
came he was told that Bayard was with Sire de ligny, 
and the next time that he had gone across the 
river to look at some horses and so on. So at last 
he went back to the abb6 and told him it was lost 
time to hunt for Bayard, for he had been there 
ten times without finding him and he was surely 
keeping out of the way. "By my oath," said 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 



the abb6, "he is a bad boy. But he will be 
sorry for it." 

So the day of the tourney came, and Bayard and 
his companion appeared in all the splendor of their 
borrowed plumage, at which also appeared many 
young gallants of the court. "The good chevaUer, " 
says the chronicler, "who in his eighteenth year was 
still very young, for he had not got his growth and 
was naturally pale and thin, put himself among the 
rest and there made his first essay at arms, which was 
a hard beginning, for he had to do with one of the 
most skilled and practiced chevaUers in the world. 
But I do not know how it was, whether God wished 
him to have praise or whether Messire Claude de 
Vauldray took pleasure in him, but there was no 
one in the whole tourney, whether on horseback or 
on foot, who did so well or better than he did. And 
the ladies of Lyons gave him praise for it, for as he 
rode round the Hsts, after he had done his devoir, 
with his face uncovered, the ladies said, "See that 
little fellow! He has done better than all the rest." 
And good King Charles at supper said, "By the 
faith of my body, Bayard has made a beginning, 
from which I think he will make a good ending," 
and turning to the Sire de Ligny he said, "My 

07 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 



cousin, I never made so good a present in my life as 
when I gave him to you." And de Ligny replied, 
"Sire, if he is a good man you will have greater 
honor than I, for the praise you have given him has 
made him undertake this. God grant that he may 
continue. But his uncle, the abb^ of Esnay, does 
not take much pleasure in it, because he got his 
whole outfit on the abb6*s credit." And the King, 
who had heard the story, laughed, and so did all 
the company. 



68 



TEE CHIVALRY OF CHEVALIER BAYARD 

IN the wars between the Kmg of France and 
the Emperor in the first part of the sixteenth 
century, the city of Brescia, in the north of 
Italy, which had been held by the French, was 
taken by the Venitians who were allied with the 
Emperor, in the following way. Two children, a 
child of the Count of Gambre and one of the Count 
of Advogadre, quarrelled, and the child of the 
Count of Gambre hurt the other grievously. The 
Count of Advogadre went to Milan to the Duke de 
Nemours, who was ruling for the French in that 
part of Italy, to seek redress. It was promised to 
him, but, as the Countess of Gambre was a French 
woman, nothing was done about it, and Advogadre 
in his anger went secretly to Venice and offered to 
put the Venitians in the way of capturing the city. 
And he having agreed with them, on a certain 
morning at dawn of day, a force of seven or eight 
thousand Venitians surprised the French garrison 
in the city and, with the help of the Advogadre 
faction, which he had roused up, captured it. The 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 



French commander betook himself and what force 
he could hastily collect to the citadel, where also the 
Countess of Gambre took refuge with her family. 
It was well that she did so, for the first thing that 
Advogadre did was to destroy all the houses of 
Gambre and his faction. The commander of the 
Venitians laid strict siege to the citadel, and pressed 
it so closely that the French in it sent word to the 
Duke de Nemours at Milan, that, if they were not 
reUeved within eight days, they would be compelled 
to surrender. 

As soon as the capture of the city had been made 
known to the Duke de Nemours, he made all possible 
haste to gather forces to retake it before the Venitians 
in it should be reinforced. And on the other hand 
the Venitian captain-general at once marched with 
a force of four hundred men-at-arms and four thou- 
sand foot to give such reinforcement. But on the 
way he stopped to take a small castle which was held 
by the French, and the Duke de Nemours, making a 
forced march of thirty miles in the depth of winter, 
fell upon the Venitian force and routed it, and two 
days after entered the citadel of Brescia and prepared 
from that vantage-ground, to storm the city itself. 
Before making the assault, the Duke sent an ofiFer 

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to the Venitians that if they would give up the 
city, they might go with their lives saved. The 
citizens would gladly have had the offer accepted, 
but the Venitian leader, having a force of seven 
thousand soldiers, declined the offer. The assault 
was made at once and the Frenchmen took Brescia 
by storm and sacked it without mercy. It is diffi- 
cult for us in these days to form any adequate idea 
of what the storming and sacking of a city was 
three hundred or one hundred years ago. Napier 
in his "History of the Peninsular War," telling of 
the capture of Badajos by the British, gives the 
following dreadful picture of it. 

"Now commenced that wild, desperate wicked- 
ness, which tarnished the lustre of the soldier's 
heroism. All indeed were not alike, for hundreds 
risked and many lost their lives in striving to stop 
the violence; but the madness generally prevailed, 
and as the worst men were leaders here, all the 
dreadful passions of human nature were displayed. 
Shameless rapacity, brutal intemperance, savage 
lust, cruelty and murder, shrieks and piteous lamen- 
tations, groans, shouts and imprecations, the hissing 
of fires bursting from the houses, the crashing of 
doors and windows and the reports of muskets 

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used in violence, resounded for two days and nights 
in the streets of Badajos. " 

To have an idea of the fury of the storming of 
Brescia, let any one add to Napier's picture two 
facts, viz: that the plunder of that city was estimated 
at three millions of crowns, and that, during the 
three days which were given to the purifying of the 
city after the storming, more than twenty-two 
thousand dead bodies, of the citizens as well as of 
the Venitian soldiers, were removed from the streets. 

Against this lurid picture, the action of the 
Chevalier Bayard, "the good chevaHer, without 
fear and without reproach," shines in biilliant 
contrast. He had been a leader in the attack, and 
in a hand to hand fight, after he had passed the 
rampart into the city, he was struck by a pike in the 
upper part of the thigh. The blow broke off the 
pike, leaving the iron point and part of the shaft in 
the wound. His companions, urged forward by 
him, left him in the charge of two of his archers, 
who stanched the wound as well as they could, 
tearing up their shirts for the purpose. They took 
a door from a house near by and, laying him on it, 
with some other help carried him to the best appear- 
ing house in the neighborhood. It belonged to a 

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rich gentleman, who had fled to take refuge in a 
monastery. But his wife had remained in the house 
with two beautiful daughters, who had hidden 
themselves under some straw in a granary. When 
the bearers of the chevalier knocked at the door 
the lady came herself and opened it. He was 
brought in and he placed the two archers at the door, 
with strict orders to let no one enter except the 
chevalier's own people. The lady came to him, 
when he had been carried to a room, and told him 
that the house and all its contents were his, but she 
besought him to spare the honor and the lives of 
herself and her two daughters. He assured her 
that, as long as he should live, neither she nor 
her daughters should suffer any discourtesy, but the 
giris must keep to their room and not be seen. He 
asked her to send for a surgeon, and she at once 
went with one of the archers and brought one, who 
lived only two doors away. After he had examined 
the wound, the chevalier directed him to pull the 
iron out. He replied, "I am afraid you will faint 
away." "No," said the chevalier, "I shall not; 
I have known before this what it is to have an iron 
drawn out of human flesh — ^pull boldly!" So 
they pulled it out though the pain was severe, and 

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all were delighted to find that no artery or large 
vem was injured. The wound was carefully dressed, 
and the chevalier remained under the surgeon's 
care for a month or six weeks before he was sufficiently 
recovered to mount a horse. During this time he 
found out from the lady whither her husband had 
betaken himself, and sent for him and brought him 
home in safety. The lady and her daughters 
not only took all possible care of him but they 
helped him to pass the weary hours, for as the 
chronicler says, the girls "were very beautiful, 
good and well taught, and knew well how to sing 
and play on the lute and the spinet and to do good 
work with the needle. " 

The enforced confinement of the chevalier was 
heavier upon him because he knew that the French 
and Spanish armies were approaching each other; 
and the thought that a battle might be fought 
without his having part in it was very grievous to him. 
He had told the Duke de Nemours that he would 
be there whenever it should come, if he had to be car- 
ried in a litter. At last the surgeon told him that 
his wound was so far cured that he could ride a horse, 
though it would need constant attention and care; 
and the chevaher determined to start in two days. 

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The chronicler tells the rest of the story as follows: 
"The lady of the house with her husband and 
children, considered themselves as his prisoners 
and that, if he chose to hold them to ransom, he 
might well demand of them ten or twelve thousand 
crowns. So on the morning of the day of his depart- 
ure, the lady came to his room with a servant who 
carried a small steel box. She found him sitting in 
a chair and threw herself on her knees before him, 
but he raised her and would not Usten to her till 
she was seated near him. Then she said, * Monsei- 
gneur ! the grace which God showed to me, when the 
city was taken, in sending you to my house, has been 
no less than the saving of the lives of my husband 
and myself and of our two daughters, and of their 
honor, which they should hold more dear. And 
moreover since you have been here, there has been 
no injury done to any of us or to the least of my 
people, and your people have not taken anything 
without paying for it. Now, sir, we know that we 
are your prisoners, with all that is here, to be dis- 
posed of at your pleasure. But, knowing the noble- 
ness of your heart, which no other can equal, I have 
come to ask you very humbly to have pity on us. 
And here is a small present which I have brought, 

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and which I trust you will please to accept.' 
"Then she took the box from the servant and 
opened it before him, and he saw it was full of bright 
ducats. The gentle chevalier, who never cared 
much about money, asked her with a laugh how 
many ducats there were. The poor woman, afraid 
lest he was angry at seeing so few, said *Sir, there 
are only two thousand five hundred, but if you are 
not satisfied we can find more for you.' * Madam!' 
said he, *if you should give me a hundred thousand 
crowns, you would not do me so much good as you 
have done by the good cheer which I have had here 
and the good society which you have given me. I 
assure you that wherever I may be, as long as I live, 
you will have a gentleman at your command. As 
for your ducats, I do not wish them, thank you; 
take them back. I have always loved people much 
more than ducats. And never think but that I go 
away as satisfied with you as if you had given me 
the whole city.' The good lady was much aston- 
ished at this refusal, and threw herself again on her 
knees and said, *Monseigneur! I should always think 
myself the most unhappy woman in the world, if 
you gave so Httle importance to the present which 
I make to you, which is as nothing in comparison 

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with the courtesy which you have aheady shown 
me and are showing me now by your great goodness. ' 
When the good chevalier saw her so firm and that 
she persisted in making the present, he said, *Well 
then, madam! I take it for the love of you; but go 
and bring me your two daughters, for I wish to say 
adieu to them.* The poor woman, who thought 
she was in paradise since her present had been 
accepted, went to get the girls. While she was gone 
the chevaUer made three parcels of the ducats, two 
of one thousand each and one of five hundred. When 
the girls came they also threw themselves on their 
knees, but were at once raised, and the eldest of 
them said, *Monseigneur! these two poor maidens, 
to whom you have done so much honor as to keep 
them from all injury, have come to take leave of you, 
thanking your lordship very humbly for the favor 
which they have received, for which they will be 
always bound to pray to God for you, which is all 
that is in their power.' 

"The good chevalier, almost with tears in his 
eyes as he saw so much sweetness and humihty in 
the two beautiful girls, answered, 'Yoimg ladies! 
you are doing what I ought to do, that is, to thank 
you for the good company which you have been to 

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me, for which I feel very much obliged. You know 
that soldiers are not apt to be supplied with fine 
things to give to ladies, and I am very sorry that I 
am not so well supplied as to make you such a 
present as I feel bound to do. But your lady mother 
has given me two thousand five hundred ducats* 
which you see on the table. I give to each of you 
one thousand of them as a dowry, and for my recom- 
pense, please to pray to God for me. I ask nothing 
else. ' And he put the ducats in their hands, whether 
they would or no. Then turning to his hostess, he 
said, * Madam! I will take these five hundred ducats 
for my own to apply them to the reUef of poor nuns 
who have been pillaged. And I give you the care 
of them, for you will know where is the need of help 
better than any other. And with that I take my 
leave of you." So he took each of them by the 
hand in the fashion of Italy, and they all fell on their 
knees, weeping as if they were about to be led out to 
death. And the lady said, *0h! Flower of Chivalry! 
to whom no one can be compared ! May the Blessed 
Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who suffered 
passion and death for all sinners, reward you in this 
world and in the other.' And then they retired to 
their chambers. It was time for dinner. The 

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gentleman also came to his room and thanked him a 
thousand times, offering him his person and his goods 
to dispose of as his own, as he pleased. The good 
chevalier thanked him and made him dine with 
him; and it was not long after dinner before he 
ordered the horses. As he came out of his room to 
take horse, the two beautiful daughters came, and 
each of them gave him a present which she had 
worked during his malady. One was two pretty 
little bracelets, worked with hair and thread of gold 
and silver, and the other was a purse of beautiful 
satin, beautifully worked. The chevalier thanked 
them heartily and said that the presents, coming 
from such hands, were worth to him ten thousand 
crowns. And to do them more honor, he put the 
bracelets on his arm, and the purse in his sleeve, 
and said that he would wear them as long as they 
lasted, for the love of them. 

"Then the good chevalier took horse. He was 
accompanied by his great friend, Seigneur D 'Aubigny, 
whom the Duke de Nemours had left in command 
in the city, and by two or three thousand other 
gentlemen who rode with him, two or three miles, 
and then said adieu and returned to Brescia, while 
the good chevalier rode on to the camp of the French 

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army, where he was received by the Duke de Nemours 
and the whole army, with as much joy as if the 
army had been reinforced by ten thousand men.'* 



80 



SMALL THINGS SHOW THE CHARACTER 

ONE day a Spanish ambassador, con- 
versing with King Henry IV, of France, 
said to him that he would be glad to be 
acquainted with the King's ministers, 
so that he might address each one of them according 
to his character. "I will make you acquainted with 
them on the spot," said the King. The three minis- 
ters were in the ante-chamber, waiting for the hour 
for the council. The King called in Chancellor de 
Sillery, and said to him, "Mons. Chancellor, I am 
troubled to see above my head a plank of the ceiling 
which is in bad condition, and threatens injury," 
"Sire," said the Chancellor, "the architects must be 
consulted. They must examine everything and 
have work done if it is needed. But we do not need 
to be in haste about it. ** 

The Chancellor was sent out, and the King had M. 
de Villeroy come in and said the same thing to him. 
He, without even looking at the plank, said, "You 
are quite right. Sire! That is a thing to cause fear. " 

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After he had gone out, in came President Jeannin, 
and he gave a very different answer to the same 
remark. "Sire," said he, "I don't know what you 
mean. That plank is all right." "But," said the 
king, "do I not see cracks up there? Do my eyes 
deceive me?" "Come, come, Sire, " answered Jean- 
nin, "you can rest in quiet. Your plank will last 
longer than you will. " 

When the three ministers had departed, the King 
said to the ambassador, "Now you know what they 
are. The chancellor never knows what he wants 
to do. Villeroy always says that I am right. Jean- 
nin says just what he thinks, and he always thinks 
well. He does not flatter me, as you see." 



8S 



DE PONTIS 



THE Sieur de Pontis was born in Provence 
in the year 1583. He died on June 14, 
1670, at the age of 87 years. At the age 
of 14, he entered upon the career of a 
soldier. He served for 56 years, during which he 
held various grades and received seventeen wounds. 
He filled various offices under three kings, Henry IV> 
Louis XIII and Louis XIV, and was held in great 
esteem, especially by Louis XIII, who kept him 
near his person for a large part of his reign. Cardi- 
nal Richeheu, recognizing his abiHty, tried to detach 
him from the service of the King and induce him to 
enter into his own service, but was unable to weaken 
his fidehty to the King, and, taking umbrage at his 
ill-success, became hostile and for years interfered 
with de Pontis' advancement. 

When de Pontis was 70 years old, the sudden 
death of a near friend, apparently from a stroke 
of lightning, compelled him to a review of his past 
life, and finally to his leaving the court and the 

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military life. He says in his memoirs, "I began to 
reflect on my past life and to look with astonishment 
at all the time of fifty-six years, which I had employed 
with so much ardor, in wars and at the court, to 
gain a fleeting fortune, without ever thinking of the 
other Ufe, and without being in the least impressed 
at heart by death which was continually presented 
to my eyes in the army. I began to consider all 
the perils to which I had been exposed through all 
that time; and my eyes being opened to that 
infinite mercy of my God, which had saved me from 
death thousands of times, to give me time at last 
to seek my salvation, I found myself overwhelmed 
by the sight of so many favors, which appeared to 
me as innumerable as had been all the moments of 
my fife, each of which, as I saw plainly, might have 
been my last. " 

Thus de Pontis experienced a real conversion. 
He left the army and the court. He joined himself 
to the Jamsenists and for seventeen years he lived 
a retired, almost a soUtary Hfe. During this time 
he, with the help of one of his companions, wrote 
the memoirs of his Hfe before his retirement. He 
closes them in these pious words : 

"I enjoy in my solitude, at every moment, the 

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pleasure that there is in living in a holy repose, far 
removed from the tumult and the vanity of the 
age, without any other occupation than that of 
preparing myself for my death, by trying to give to 
God a satisfaction for my crimes and trying in some 
sort to repair the loss of so many years. Now it is 
that I see, by my own experience, that the yoke of 
the Lord is sweeter and easier to bear than that of 
the world. I see how many more charms has soli- 
tude than society. I see how much even the bitter- 
ness, which I have tasted in all the different employ- 
ments of war and of the court, contributes to make 
one find consolation and joy in the different exercises 
of a retired and Christian Ufe. Now, comparing 
the services which I have rendered to several Kings 
with that which I am seeking to render to the 
Sovereign Lord of Kings and peoples, considering 
the infinite difference which there is between God 
and the greatest princes, and the inestimable happi- 
ness, which, contrary to human appearance, has 
been given to me, to be able at last to know the 
grandeur and glory of God, I cannot weary of 
repeating every hour these divine words which are 
every day chanted in the church, *To the King 
inuDOTtal aoA invisiMe, ike only GtDd, be honar and 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 

glory, throughout all the ages. Amen.' And as I 
have said that the thought of death is now the only 
occupation of my mind, I have taken for my motto 
and the subject for reflection in my soUtude, these 
four lines which a friend of mine has been so kind 
as to give me: 

" *Far from the court and war's alarms, 

In this retreat I learn to die. 
Who dies not a long death on earth 

Will never live beyond the sky.* " 



86 



A DIVINATION OF NOSTRADAMUS 

I knew, said de Pontis, very well the nephew of 
Nostradamus, and he told me the following, 
which seems to me worth considering, about a 
governor of Aignes Mortes: The wife of this 
governor did not conduct herself with the fidehty 
which she owed to her husband; and, having had the 
ill fortune to please a constable of France, she allowed 
him to come and see her a little too often for her honor. 
The governor, having got wind of it, wished to avenge 
himself on the constable at the expense of the King, 
and resolved to treat with Spain to put the place 
into the Spaniards' hands. He wrote about it to the 
King of Spain and entered into negotiations with 
him. But before carrying out his design, as Nos- 
tradamus was celebrated through all France for his 
predictions, he determined to go and consult him in 
a village province where he Uved, and told his wife 
before he started that he was going on a journey 
and should be gone fifteen days. As he went to 
^ mount his hor$e and had got one foot m the stimip 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 

he turned to say adieu to his wife and, rising on the 
stirrup, the stirrup leather broke and he fell and 
came near breaking his neck. On his journey he 
came to the river Durance, and as he entered the 
boat to cross it, he made a mis-step and fell into the 
water and came very near being drowned. As he 
was within two or three posts of the village to which 
he was going, the post horse which he was riding all 
at once began to rear and plunge and kick as if he 
were mad. The governor berated the postilUon 
for having given him such a bad animal; but the 
postillion said it was the best horse in the stable, 
and took the horse by the bridle and succeeded in 
quieting him. Arrived at the house where Nostra- 
damus lived, the governor found a servant, who 
seemed to be expecting him and who told him that 
his master had sent him to ask the gentleman to 
come up. He was very much surprised, and told 
the servant that his master could not have known 
that he was coming, or who he was. But the ser- 
vant repeated what his master had told him. The 
governor, much astonished, went up to the room 
where Nostradamus was and saluted him, saying 
that his great reputation had led him to come so 
fat tb ask Mm to M! Mm ^totelhing about the fature 

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which was of importance to him. Nostradamus 
answered that he was very sorry he had taken so 
much trouble, adding "and God himself tried to 
turn you back three times. You would have done 
better to have stayed where you were. You remem- 
ber what happened when you went to mount your 
horse, the danger of being drowned when you went 
to cross the Durance, and the last warning that God 
gave you, when that vicious horse nearly killed you 
on the road. All these things ought to have stopped 
you from coming here. You ought not to have 
despised these warnings from Heaven. " And there- 
upon Nostradamus took a covering off from a globe 
of steel which was on the table, and told the governor 
to look at it, and he having done so saw as in a mirror 
all the incidents of his journey. This made him 
more curious in reference to the future, and he said 
this to Nostradamus, who told him he would not 
tell him, because he should be obliged to tell him 
things that would trouble him. The governor 
pressed him so bard that at last Nostradamus said 
he would tell him that he had powerful enemies 
whom he ought to beware of, and he added, "Your 
wife will be the cause of misfortune to you, if you 
do not t^ke c«re of ytmrsdf. Yo^ dbtniM dist^'ast 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 

her most when she shows you the greatest friend- 
ship, for then you will have the most cause to fear. " 
The governor conjured him to tell him if there was 
any way in which he could avoid the evil that 
threatened him, and he answered that he should not 
return so soon if he would avoid it. The governor 
in some vexation intimated that he did "not give 
much credit to what Nostradamus had said," and 
left him and returned home. When he knocked at 
his door at Aignes Mortes, the constable, who was 
there, left the house by a rear entrance; and the wife, 
coming down, met the governor with a great show 
of affection and delight, and as he was somewhat 
fatigued she at once got him to go to rest. At 
midnight, the officers of the provost came and 
arrested him in the King's name, and he, remember- 
ing what Nostradamus had told him, gave himself 
up for lost. The correspondence which he had 
maintained with Spain, which had been intercepted, 
was produced, and he was condemned and executed. 
So, as he had betrayed the interest of the King to 
avenge a personal wrong, the constable served the 
interests of the King in order to serve bis own. 



sk) 



A NIGHT WATCH 



KING Henry IV of France, being at 
Fontainebleau, became suspicious of one 
of the first lords of the court, as to his 
relations with a certain lady living in 
the castle, and suspected that he went to see her 
secretly, but did it so adroitly that he was not 
caught. The King, having thought of ways 
in which he could be surprised, concluded to 
choose a person who was faithful and adroit and bold 
to help carry out his plan. He told M. de Belingam, 
one of his principal valets-de-chambre, to find two 
men such as he wanted, to be placed in two spots 
where they could watch the man he suspected. 
One of the men selected was de Pontis, who was then 
a cadet in the regiment of the King's Guard and 
only seventeen years old. De Pontis tells the rest 
of the story as follows : 

" Mons. de Belingam said to me, when I was 
presented to him, that this was a good opportunity 
to make my ft^rtime, atid to makt w^ ksadwti to the 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 



King, by rendering him a considerable service. 
*It is thought,' said he, *that you would not fail 
either in courage or in action in this affair, and it is 
very important for you to show that we have not 
been mistaken in choosing you.' Any one can 
judge of the state of mind of a cadet as young as I 
was, when I heard him speak of the service of the 
king and of my fortune. I thanked Mons. de 
Belingam, assuring him that I should never forget 
the favor he had done me in procuring for me so 
advantageous an opportunity; and I assured him 
that I would faithfully discharge the duty which 
he required of me. So he informed me of the will 
of the King; viz., that I was that night to station 
myself as a sentinel in a part of the gallery where 

I could not be seen, and from which I could see the 
one who, as His Majesty suspected, would about 

II o'clock go into a certain room in the castle; that 
I should follow him everywhere till he had gone back 
into the room where he slept, so that they might be 
sure who he was. And as he might open and shut 
some of the doors to prevent his being followed, 
dc Belingam gave me a key which would open them 
all, adding that I must be contented to follow him 
wHteut speaking tt» bim, cmly taldng dasre not to 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 

lose sight of him till he had gone back into his room. 
I assured Mons. de Belingam again that he might 
rely on me in the affair, and that I hoped the matter 
would be speedily cleared up. 

"I went at once to look for the best post for my 
design, and having found it I went away to wait for 
the hour when I must be at my post, which was the 
time of the King's retiring, when this person, as 
they told me, generally came. So about 11 o'clock 
I came back to the gallery and stationed myself in a 
dark place where I could not be seen. After an 
hour I heard the one of whom they had told me 
coming, but as he had no lantern he could not be 
recognized. I gave him no chance to go into the 
room to which he was going, because I followed him; 
and he, having heard me, turned to one side into 
another gallery, through which he gUded so skillfully 
and so quickly that he very near escaped me in the 
obscurity. That obliged me to hasten my steps 
to follow him more closely. He suspected at once 
that he was being followed, and, having gone into 
the stag gallery, he pulled the door to after him, 
hoping thus to stop me short; but was much aston- 
ished to hear the door open behind him and to find 
himself followed as before. Then in order to escape, 

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Stones from Old French Chronicles 

he made a hundred turns through the courts and 
passages, and at last made his escape into the garden, 
whose gate he shut hard, hoping in this way to 
escape from me and hide somewhere. His plan 
succeeded pretty well at first; for having thrown 
himself into a thick, tall hedge which made a good 
deal of shade and covered him from the moonlight, 
I saw no one when I got into the garden. I began 
to be very apprehensive; I ran this way and that 
without discovering him; but when I was about to 
give up in despair and vexed with myself for having 
let him get away, I returned towards the gate and 
looking in the thickets near by, I spied him there, 
and I resolved to follow him so close as not to lose 
him again. He, seeing that he was discovered, 
came out of the thicket in a rage, and made as if he 
would run away at speed, but all at once he turned 
back and said aloud, *Ah! This is too much,' and 
made as if he would draw his sword. I stopped and 
stood firm without saying a word, as I had been 
ordered. As I showed that I would defend myself, 
which I was determined to do if I was obliged to, 
the gentleman, judging by my appearance that I 
was not disposed to let myself be crowded, turned 
away and went back into a gallery and thence into 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 



his room at the door of which I placed myself as a 
sentinel. I was not alone for very long, for about 
2 o'clock Mons. de Belingam came to leam what I 
had discovered. I was beginning to tell him what 
had passed, when the King himself appeared at the 
end of the gallery in his robe-de-chambre with a 
little lantern in his hand. We went forward at once, 
and though I had never had the honor of speaking 
to the King, I tried to give him an account of my 
commission as well as I could, relating without 
excitement all the steps which I had taken and the 
turns back and forward which I had made the 
gentleman take. And when I set forth, as simply 
as I could, the rage with which he came out of the 
thicket and afterwards had made as if he would 
draw his sword, the King interrupted me and said to 
me, *But what would you have done, cadet, if he 
had come at you?' *I should have defended myself* 
Sire,' said I, * for your Majesty had had the order 
given to me that I was not to speak, but not that I 
was not to defend myself.' The King burst into a 
laugh and said, *I think you would have, by the 
look of you.' Then he wanted me to represent to 
him the man's position and action, which I tried to 
set forth in the most lively manner which I could^ 

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and which I judged would please him most. And 
this little comedy being thus finished, he told me 
he was perfectly satisfied with what I had done and 
promised that he would bear me in mind.' ' 

De Pontis says that this resulted in the King's 
giving him a pension of a hundred crowns a year. 
But he says nothing about the result to the party 
whose steps he had followed, which it would have 
been interesting for him to relate. Perhaps he 
knew nothing farther. 



96 



A MEETING OF FRIENDS 



DURING the religious wars in France, 
in the year 1622, Tonneins, a strong 
place held by the Huguenots, was 
besieged by a CathoKc force, in which 
was included the Picardy regiment in which de 
Pontis was then an officer. A strong Huguenot 
force, approaching in the design to raise the siege, 
which the Catholic force was making by regular 
approach, a large part of the besiegers were drawn 
out to meet them, weakening the force which held 
the trenches; and the garrison, perceiving this, 
availed themselves of the opportunity to make a 
furious sortie. 

"I was attacked at my post," says de Pontis, "by 
an officer in command of about fifty men, all armed 
cap-a-pie. He came straight to me with a slender 
rapier which he held in his hand, and gave me so 
fierce a blow that he ran me through, just as I fired 
a pistol at him. The shot missed his cuirass and 
broke his thigh, and he fell backwards without 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 

letting go his rapier which he drew out of my body. 
The soldiers who accompanied him were so frightened 
to see him fall, that, though victorious, they fell 
back more than fifty feet, which gave me the chance, 
as I had not fallen from the wound I had received, 
severe as it was, to drag myself away as well as I 
could, sustained by a brave soldier, named Mutonis, 
to try and reach the bank of the river, which, by 
reason of a very steep place which it was necessary 
to descend to reach the bank, would put me in safety 
and save me from being captured. As I moved 
slowly thus, leaning on my poor soldier, a new mis- 
fortune befell us which almost reduced us to despair, 
for a musket shot struck Mutonis in the arm. That 
put him almost as much in need of help as I was; 
and it was truly a very touching thing to see two 
men covered with blood and crippled and having no 
help but from each other. For myself I held myself 
up with one hand on the arm of the soldier which 
was not broketn, and with the other I chedsed the 
flofw of blodd from my wound. 

"It win seem almost inoredible that we, in the 
condition in which we were, could undertake to 
reach the bank of the river, which was, as I have 
sai^, so diflBictilt to teajch even for men unhurt and 

^8 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 



robust. But what will not the love of liberty and 
life undertake? And why marvel that God, who 
wished to give to both of us incomparably greater 
grace, should save us from this peril and also from 
many others in order to bring us at last, after 
long wanderings and strayings, to that for which he 
had destined us? For at last. He drew that poor 
boy out of the army, as He did me, and inspired 
him to embrace a truly Christian life in which he 
should think only of his own salvation. In that 
view he even wanted to be a Chartreux, but they 
would not receive him because of his arm, which was 
crippled by the musket shot. 

"Being thus reduced to the unavoidable necessity 
either to be killed by the enemy or broken by the 
fall which we must make in rolhng down the hill, 
for we could not go down standing in the condition 
in which we were, after having considered which of 
the two we would choose, we finally resolved rather 
to commit oursdves to the hands of God, than to 
fall into the hands of men. And so, having recom- 
mended ourselves to His Divine protection, we let 
ourselves roll down the hill, and, God having mani- 
festly assisted us, because the thing was humanly 
impossible, we stood up again at the foot with eadj 

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other's help and walked on to reach our quarters. 
In the road which led along by the river, we found 
an officer of our regiment, named L'Anglade, badly 
wounded, and another named Miranne of the same 
regiment, who when he saw me began to cry, * Mon- 
sieur de Pontis! I am dying, have pity on me!* 
I answered, *I am dying too, my poor friend! and 
have as much need of help as any one. But where 
are you wounded?' He said he did not know, but 
he could do no more. It occurred to me that, as he 
was in armor, it might be that his armor was suffo- 
cating him. So, drawing his sword from his side as 
well as I could, I cut the lashings of his armor, so 
that it fell away, and he began at once to breathe 
more freely and to recover himself. So God gave 
me strength to save that officer's hfe, when I was 
in danger of losing my own. 

"When we at last reached the camp, they carried 
us to Marmande, where I learned, from some soldiers 
of the enemy who had been taken prisoners, that 
the officer who had Wounded me was at least as 
badly off as I, for he had a broken thigh, and that 
his name was Feron. This news surprised me and 
also grieved me, for he was my intimate friend, and 
we had been companions in the Guards. I sent a 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 



drummer at once to him to inquire how he was and 
to show to him my grief at having thus met him. 
Feron was no less surprised to learn that I was the 
one whom he had struck with so hard a blow; and 
having answered me with the same sentiments of 
civility and sorrow for what had happened to me, 
he sent the next day to get news of me, and we con- 
tinued to do this as long as we were near each other, 
which drew us closer to each other than we were 
before and increased our former friendship, which 
has continued till the present time. From Mar- 
mande I was taken to Toulouse, where I nearly died 
of my wound and of a fever which attacked me. 
It was more than six months before my wound 
was closed enough so that I could walk and it was 
not entirely cured till several years after." 



101 



A STRANGE HIDING PLACE 

IN the religious wars of France in the year 1621, 
the Huguenot inhabitants of Negrepelisse 
rose one night upon the Catholic garrison of 
four hundred men and killed them all. The 
King, when he heard it, declared that he would 
punish them in the same way and would not leave 
a soul alive. And the next year the King, with a 
strong force appeared before the town and took it by 
assault. The inhabitants, finding that no quarter 
was to be given them, sold their lives very dearly, 
causing heavy loss to the royaUst force, but were all 
cut to pieces. 

De Pontis proceeds with the narrative as follows: 
"After this carnage, the soldiers began to pillage 
and to take the women whom they found. I was 
at the head of our regiment, when a perfectly beauti- 
ful girl, aged about 17 or 18 years, came hurriedly 
out of a house which had not yet been entered and 
ran and threw herself at my feet, begging me to 
save her honor and her life. I gave her the promise 

102 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 



at once, and assured her that I would rather lose my 
life than allow either to be taken from her. I 
wished to have her near me, guarded by three or 
four soldiers, but she thought she would not be safe 
unless she kept hold of the edge of my surcoat. In 
this way I took her through the city. On the way 
she was seen by a party of officers, some of whom 
were so insolent as to demand that I should put her 
in their hands; whereupon I saw myself forced to 
quarrel with them, preferring to have them for 
enemies rather than to fail in the promise which I 
had given and in the justice which I felt was due to 
an honest girl who had implored my protection. 
In this way I brought her to my hut. Her parents 
were prominent in the city, where her father was a 
minister; and it had happened, very fortunately for 
them, that they were at a house which they had in 
the country, having left her to take care of the 
house. As I saw I should be troubled further by 
the importunity of different persons, some of whom 
were of the principal men of the army, I thought 
over all possible ways to hide her, until I could put 
her in the hands of her father and mother, so as to 
deliver us both, her and myself, from the fear of the 
continual peril to which she was exposed. 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 



"But that could not be done easily in a camp of 
nothing but huts, and where I knew there was so 
little fidelity. At last I thought of a plan, as 
extraordinary as can be imagined and which might 
appear incredible to some. As sometimes the best 
places to hide things are not the most secret, but 
those which are not suspected because they are 
most in sight, I thought that the carcase of a heifer, 
which I had had killed the day before and which 
was hanging up all whole in my hut, might serve 
my plan. I turned the belly of it to the wall, and 
put my prisoner in the body of the animal to see 
if she would be hid there. The thing succeeded 
very well, for the fear of the pressing peril helping 
her to fit herself into so small a place which was the 
only one that could save her, she crowded into it 
and made herself so small that she could not be seen 
at all. I told her whenever she heard a knock to run 
and hide there, because to stay there all the time 
would be unpleasant. And it happened that almost 
as soon as I had arranged this invention, some 
guard officers, under the pretence of inspecting the 
camp, came and knocked at my hut. They told 
me, when they came in, the true reason of their 
coming and urged me to give them a sight of her 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 



whom God had just put into my hands. I answered 
them so proudly, letting them freely look through 
my hut, where they only saw the heifer, that they 
went away convinced that she was no longer with 
me. There is no need to tell of all the others who 
were taken in by the trick, and who, after having 
come in, went away, having seen nothing but the 
heifer hanging there. 

"But the afifair went farther and was carried to 
the King, who sent for me. As I was sure of the 
fidelity of my servants, I left my prisoner in their 
care, telling them to stay outside of the hut, and to say 
that I was not there, and not to let any one go in. 
The King asked me, as soon as he saw me, if it was 
true that I had a very pretty girl in my quarters. 
As I have never concealed anything from him, I 
told him the whole story just as it had happened. 
Then the King, looking at me very sharply, said, 
'Have you kept your promise?' I swore to him 
before God and before him that I had, and he 
answered, 'I am delighted to hear it. Finish what 
you have begun so well, for it is one of the finest 
actions of your life, and I shall consider it as one of 
the greatest services that you have rendered to me. 
If any one should happen to discover her and urge 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 



you to let him have her, tell him that you have 
received orders from me to take care of her, and that 
I, myself, put her in your care. ' 

"I begged His Majesty to allow me to send a 
drummer to her father who was four or five leagues 
from camp, so that I could put her in his hands as 
soon as possible. This request, which showed the 
sincerity with which I was acting, pleased the King 
much, and he said that he granted my request with 
all his heart, and that I could not do better. 

"I took leave of His Majesty, and hastened back 
to my hut, where I found things all right ; and I told 
the girl to write a letter to her father telling him to 
come and get her at a place which I mentioned, and 
to tell him that the drummer who brought the 
letter would take him safely to the place where she 
and I would not fail to meet him. She wrote a note 
which in three words told him what I had told her 
to say, putting off the account of how she was in 
danger from which I had saved her, till she could tell 
it to him. The father and mother received the news 
with joy which can be better imagined than expressed, 
and were speedily at the place appointed, where I 
met them with the girl. Putting her in their hands, 
I told them that I had preserved her at the risk of 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 



my own Kfe, as if she had been my own daughter, 
and that I considered myself very happy in that 
God had given me the opportunity to save a young 
person from such an impending peril. They wished 
to acknowledge the service and offered me all they 
had in recompense for the precious present which I 
had given them, in restoring to them the daughter 
whom they had considered lost. I was satisfied 
with their friendship, and told them that I was 
sufficiently recompensed by having saved the honor 
of their daughter. But, before I reached my hut, I 
saw following me two horses loaded with game and 
other similar things; and the man who drove them 
said that his master sent it and begged me to accept 
at least this, which was so little that he hardly dared 
to offer it. I could not refuse it, fearing to cause 
too much chagrin to the sender, and I told the servant 
to tell his master that I had accepted it, so as not to 
disoblige him, and thanked him. 

"They always remembered me afterwards. Five 
or six months afterwards I went by the place where 
the father had a house. I went to see them, and the 
poor girl was so transported with joy to see me 
again, that she threw herself at my knees, and 
would not leave me, showing more sense of the 

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obligation which she felt toward me, because she 
was more herself than she had been before, and 
telling her father and mother that she regarded me 
as another father and mother, because I had saved 
her life and her honor. " 



108 



A FAMILY QUARREL IN 161^,9 

THE house of Poligny is an illustrious house 
in Dauphiny. It possesses a considerable 
estate, called Vaubonnez, which is like a 
little kingdom by itself, because it includes 
fifteen villages which are all shut in by precipices 
and natural gullies, and the entrance to them is 
only by three different stone bridges. M. de Poligny, 
who was about Q5 years old, had a son, whom he 
had named from that Vaubonnez estate. But he 
had also a bastard son, named Richard, whom he 
had made castellan or bailly of the seignorial 
property, and who had so conducted himself in that 
office that he found means to make himself, in a 
few years, worth more than two hundred thousand 
livres. When M. de Vaubonnez was quite small, 
they gave him a teacher who took great care of him, 
and was bringing him up according to his quality. 
When he had reached the age of 12 years they gave 
him a gun, and his teacher sometimes took him out 
to teach him to shoot the thrushes and blackbirds. 

109 



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One day, when they were out on this diversion, 
they met Sieur Richard, who was taking the liberty 
of hunting openly over the estate. The young 
gentleman, not willing to bear this impudence, 
asked him who gave him leave to come there to hunt, 
and showed that he was offended, adding that he 
did not mean that he should do so in future. Rich- 
ard, who was very insolent and whose mode of life 
was suitable to his birth, said proudly that it was 
no extraordinary thing, as he had always hunted 
there, and that he was astonished that it was con- 
sidered wrong. De Vaubonnez replied that he did 
not know about its being his custom, but he advised 
him not to come again, and said that if he found him 
there again he would have his gun taken from him. 
Richard replied very insolently that no one would 
take his gun away till after he had broken his head. 
Vaubonnez' preceptor, hearing him speak in that 
way, told him that he forgot himself and did not 
remember that he was speaking to his Seigneur; 
that he was only the bailly of the Vaubdnnez estate, 
and tliat he owed all his fortune to M. de Poligny. 
" I know, " said Richard, " to whom I am indebted for 
my fortune; and it is not you by whom I ought to be 
infoTijiidd; and yaa are meddling with what does not 

Hi) 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 



concern you. When monsieur is a little taller we 
will talk to him and have an explanation about this 
matter." The preceptor rephed that the affairs of 
M. de Vaubonnez were his; that he would not deserve 
to be in Vaubonnez* service if he did not take an 
interest in what concerned him, and that he advised 
Richard to keep himself within the bounds of his 
duty or he would be sorry. Thereupon many hot 
words passed between them and they separated in 
anger. 

Richard resolved thereupon to take vengeance 
on the teacher. So he made up his mind to assassi- 
nate him; and having had the effrontery to come 
into the courtyard of Vaubonnez where he saw the 
young gentleman and the teacher at the door of the 
building, he fired a shot at him and killed him and 
then took to flight. Such extraordinary insolence 
and so black an assassination irritated Madame de 
Poligny exceedingly. She put the ordinary course 
of justice in motion and the intendant <^ the province 
condemned Richard to be hung. 

The murderer, concluding that he was lost if he 
did not succeed in having the case taken out of the 
province, resolved to go to Fontainebleau in order 
to obtain froin the Kiiig's coundl this r^inpvai^ oii 

111 



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the pretext that Madame de Poligny was all powerful 
in the Grenoble parliament. I was then at Fontaine- 
bleau, but as I did not know the miserable man and 
had not yet been informed about his ease, though I 
had the honor to be connected with Madame de 
Poligny, he obtained from the King a protection so 
that he might be free to solicit the members of the 
council* and, morover, he had himself accompanied 
everywhere by three or four big lackeys and by 
some of his friends as determined as he was. 

Some time after this I received a letter from 
Madame de PoKgny, which told me about this vile 
deed of Richard's and conjured me in consideration 
of the connection between us, to help her with my 
credit at the court against that assassin, who, after 
he had been condemned to be hung, was seeking a 
removal of the cause before the King's council. 
An assassination so vile struck me in such a way 
that I resolved to give the lady all the protection I 
could, I found out that Mons. du Gue, a master 
of requests, had been named reporter in the caset. 

* It was customary in France, that a party in a litigation, 
as well as his friends (and the more influential the better) was 
allowed to interview the judge and solicit a favorable decision. 

t It was the custom of the French court in every case to 
make one of the judges to be reporter; i. e., to examine the 
case and report to the court his opinioD upon it ajjd upoR the 
jirdgvent to be given. 



Stories from Old French Chronicles 



Although everyone advised me to object to him, 
because of the powerful recommendations which 
Richard had procured to be made, I did not wish to 
do it, because I knew he was a man of honor and a 
very good judge. I went to him and said that the 
reputation which he had of being a man of probity 
made me hope that he would do justice for Madame 
de PoUgny; that the crime of her opponent was so 
black that he could not deserve any favor; that as 
for me, I had no interest in the matter except that 
justice should be done; but as the lady had begged 
me to assist her, I did not fear to denounce a man 
who had committed such a crime in the house of a 
noble of the country, who was his own Seigneur- 
"I ask for justice then. Monsieur," said T, "against 
an assassin who is unworthy of a pardon. " 

It happened, that, just as I was speaking so warmly 
about the matter, Richard came into the hall where 
we were, accompanied as usual by a number of 
people of no better stamp than himself. As soon 
as I had seen this man, so black with crimes, I was 
still more excited and raising my voice, I said, "Yes, 
sir, I again demand justice. There is the assassin — 
the murderer, who has the hardiness to present 
himself before you with his sword at his side, after 

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he had used arms to sacrifice a man of honor to his 
revenge. 

"I demand justice at your hands against this 
man, who, being a prisoner of the King and guilty 
of a crime, has the insolence to bear arms still. 
Order him, sir, to constitute himself a prisoner and 
to pay the proper respect to the King's council." 

Although the reporter had received, as I have 
said, powerful recommendations in favor of Richard, 
such a bold speech, coming from a person who was 
not at the time wearing a sword, astonished him as 
well as Richard so much that they were both almost 
abashed. But as the voice of justice is very strong, 
and moreover as the man to whom I spoke was a 
man of honor, he could not refrain from saying to 
Richard that I was right, and that he forbade his 
appearing thus with a sword at his side before him, 
which compelled Richard to leave at once quite 
discountenanced and in a very bad humor at me 
for having thus had him condemned to put off his 
sword. 

The reporter assured me that he would do what 
was just, but I thought it wise to make it more 
certain by the assistance of my friends. So I got 
the help, among others, of Marshal de Villeroy, who 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 

was a particular friend of mine and with the best 
grace in the world agreed to solicit in favor of Madame 
de Poligny. Having asked me to dine with him the 
next day he invited the reporter also. And, as we 
rose from the table, the marshal said very pleasantly 
to M. du Gue, "Oh, sir, you must deliver me from 
the importunity of this man (indicating me). He 
makes me believe that I have some credit with you. 
Is he right about that.^^ And can I be sure that you 
will not refuse me. " 

"You do me honor and justice, sir," said du Gue. 
"I can no more refuse you anything than you can 
urge me to anything that is not just." 

"Well, sir," said the marshal, "I only ask that, 
for the love of me, you will bear in mind the case of 
Madame de Poligny, and will do justice in it. They 
say that the crime of the man whom she is proceed- 
ing against is so black that he is unworthy of pardon." 

Not to prolong the matter uselessly, I add in a 
word that, the reporter being a very good judge and 
seeing himself powerfully urged to do justice, Sieur 
Richard was refused the removal which he was 
seeking, and was sent back to the Grenoble parlia- 
ment, where the case was to be examined anew and 
concluded. He was so upset by this news, that, 

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seeing that he had no resource left and that his loss 
of the case was certain, he resolved to humble 
himself and ask pardon of me, which he did; and when 
he came to me he showed all submission that could 
be imagined to move me. He conjured me to try 
and obtain mercy for him and to write to Madame 
de Poligny in his name, assuring her that he was 
disposed to give her whatever satisfaction she 
required; that he acknowledged with grief the crime 
which he had committed and believed it was the 
devil which had pushed him into it. 

I asked him coldly enough if he had well considered 
what he was saying and if he spoke from the bottom 
of his heart. "For," said I, "if you undertake to 
promise something to me and then you fail to keep 
your word, I will take up the matter against you 
myself and you will see strange things." 

He protested that he was speaking sincerely and 
that he was determined to keep his promise. There- 
upon I concluded to write to Madame de Poligny 
in his favor, having some pity for the state he was 
in, and besides wishing to avoid the consequences 
of such a miserable lawsuit. So I wrote to the lady 
to tell her about Sieur Richard 's state of mind, and 
to urge her to be wiUing to take gentle measures and 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 

have a settlement of the affair and be merciful to a 
man who showed real repentance for his crime and a 
desire to give to her every sort of satisfaction. 

Sieur Richard went back to Dauphiny and sent 
my letter to Madame de Poligny; and she, being 
disposed to yield to my request, said it was necessary 
to see if the man would return to his duty and would 
keep the word which he had given to me. So they 
selected four arbiters and for umpire the Duke de 
Lesdiguieres, to fix the terms of the settlement. 
But when they fixed upon a sum for him to pay, he 
thought it was too much, and squirmed out of the 
arbitration, and found means to get it set aside, 
giving the King 's council to understand that he had 
got some new evidence for his justification, which 
had not been produced. 

Being very much puffed up by the success of this 
secret intrigue, he stayed boldly in his house about 
three musket-shots from Vaubonnez, and paraded 
proudly everywhere as if he had been fully justified, 
being always accompanied, however, by six or seven 
of his friends, as fit for the gallows as himself. 

Madame de PoHgny's husband, who was still 
living, was of peaceable disposition and hated 
quarrels and law suits. He found himself much 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 

embarrassed, for he was kept for three days in his 
house, as if he was besieged by that miserable 
fellow, who was going through the country-side and 
was ready to make de Poligny trouble at any time. 
I had been sent to Provence by an order of the King 
to attend to some business there; and Madame de 
Poligny came to me there, seeing that the fine prom- 
ises of Sieur Richard amounted to nothing, and 
that she and her husband and son were exposed to 
continual insults from him. 

Letting me know the bad state of affairs, she 
conjured me, by consideration of our friendship and 
connection, to help deliver her from the violence of 
that tyrant. I told her that as long as I was occupied 
by the King's business I could only get help for her 
by writing to my friends, but that I had no doubt 
that my letters would lead them to act as much as 
my presence. But the lady knew too well the 
insolent temper and violent nature of Sieur Richard 
and the necesssity of my presence on the spot, to be 
satisfied with my offer to treat the affair by writing. 
So she planned to attach me to her by closer bonds, 
and proposed to me to marry her son with a niece 
of mine, named Anne de Pontis, as they were both 
of a suitable age and the alliance would make the 

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interests of her house my own and I should have 
to consider them as such. I told her I was infinitely 
obliged to her, that my niece was not worthy of the 
honor, but that if I should refuse it for her it would 
be because I dared not accept it. She understood 
that I consented, and showed that she was much 
pleased by it, and pressed me to conclude on the 
marriage, which we did without many formalities, 
relying on the sincerity and good faith with which 
we acted towards each other. I told her I hoped 
she would not find herself deceived in the opinion 
which she had of me, and I assured her that, as 
soon as I had finished with the King's business, I 
would take right hold of her affair and would perish 
rather than that I should not bring her out of it 
with honor. 

So young de Vaubonnez and my tiiece were mar- 
ried with much magnificence; and as soon as I had 
finished the execution of the orders which the King 
had given me I arranged to go with the young 
husband to put him in possession of his estate. So 
I went myself to Vaubonnez, accompanied by ten or 
twelve of my friends, well armed and mounted, with 
all our men. 

When Sieur Richard learned of our arrival, he 

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shut himself in his house with his people and, judging 
that it would not be wise for him to meet us, he ran 
away the following night, so as not to be exposed to 
any vexation which he might reasonably fear he 
would receive at our hands. But, having learned 
some days after that I had let my friends go away, 
and that I was staying alone at Vaubonnez, he took 
courage and came back by night to his house. He 
even had the boldness to send the next day to ask 
me that I would let him come and see me and that 
I would give him Uberty to go about where he 
pleased. I answered the man who brought this 
message that I did not advise Monsieur Richard to 
present himself before me, and that if he was bold 
enough to do so, he might be sorry for it, rather than 
I. When he received my answer he began to swear, 
being in a great rage against me, and said that I was 
a fine man to hinder him from going where he wanted 
to, and that we should sometime see which was 
the stronger man. But he had more bluff than 
courage, and it turned out that he was haughty 
only when he had the power in his hands. 

On one feast-day he sent to me to say that he did 
not believe I would hinder him from going to the 
Vaubonnez church. I repUed that I would advise 

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him to go to mass somewhere else, and that I would 
not allow a murderer, who had in so cowardly a way 
assassinated a man of honor in the castle of Vau- 
bonnez, to present himself in the church of Vaubon- 
nez, as if to brave his Seigneur, whom he had so 
outrageously offended by that action. So I ordered 
my people, who were all brave soldiers, to put 
themselves in good array, and I accompanied Madame 
de Poligny and my niece to the church, resolved to 
die rather than let that assassin come in. When I 
was in the church, another person came to tell me 
that M. Richard was on the road and was coming. 
I said to the man, "Go and tell him that I am wait- 
ing for him and will meet him there. " And at once 
I sent a trusty man of my servants and my valet to 
a very narrow part of the road through which Sieur 
Richard must come, telling them to make haste 
and get there. "And," said I to them, "if Richard 
comes, tell him that I have given you that post to 
guard and that you advise him not to come ahead. 
If he retires let him go, and don't run after him. 
But if he acts as if he meant to pass, or breaks out 
into abuse of you, run at him vigorously as you 
know how; and don't be afraid, for we will back you 
up." 

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Stories from Old French Chronicles 



When Sieur Richard was informed that our two 
soldiers were at their post, he was not bold enough 
to appear there, for fear of the disgrace of having to 
retreat. He contented himself as usual with saying 
many hard words of me, but I easily endured what 
I did not hear. He felt that he was pushed to the 
wall, and was in despair; and what served to increase 
his bad humor was that some officers of the Lesdi- 
guieres regiment, who were informed of what was 
going on, came to see me to offer me their services 
against that brute. Because of that he was obliged 
to keep himself close in his house and did not dare 
to appear abroad. 

One day those officers made up a party to go and 
breakfast at a village about a league from Vaubon- 
nez. I had opposed it at first, fearing some unpleas- 
ant meeting with a desperate man, and not wishing 
by any fault of mine to get into some bad affair 
which might bring a lawsuit upon me. But I 
finally consented so as not to vex the others, who 
wanted to go very much. But we amused ourselves 
so much by conversing and riding to one point and 
another, that when we reached the village it was 
time for dinner rather than breakfast, which made 
M. de Poligny and me say that we had better go 

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back, for we should get a better dinner at home. 
And he and I started back to the house. But young 
Vaubonnez was vexed at not breakfasting with the 
officers, and said to them, without saying a word to 
us, that it was not reasonable to go back without 
drinking a glass; that the breakfast was ready and 
that, while we went on a httle before them, they could 
taste what had been prepared. So they stayed and 
let M. de Poligny and me go on alone thinking that 
they would follow us in a moment. 

When we were in sight of Sieur Richard *s house 
which had an outlook along the high road, he per- 
ceived us; and seeing that there was no one following 
us for more than a quarter of a league behind us, he 
resolved to come and attack us. So he came out of 
his house with four or five of his friends, and they 
placed themselves at a turn of the road where we 
must pass. They were all on foot but well armed 
with pistols and swords, and one of them carried a 
halberd. When I saw him in that spot and in such 
a posture, I concluded that, as we had to pass there 
and I had no disposition to turn back, there was 
going to be a great fire. Goodman de Poligny, who 
was of an age when he only wanted repose, was not 
pleased that our friends had quitted us so inoppor- 

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tunely, nor was I very much so, but there was no 
time to deUberate and we had to make up for their 
absence by our courage. When we were about forty 
paces from Sieur Richard, the miserable fellow 
began to draw his hat down over his eyes and turn 
up one side of the brim; and with a posture and an 
air that was more proud than was fit for him he 
paraded in the middle of the road, looking at me 
with a fierce wild look as if he would like to tear me 
to pieces. And doubtless he would have done it, 
if he had been able, but God gave me extraordinary 
fortitude for the meeting. We went on at the same 
pace towards him, when all of a sudden, drawing a 
pistol, he came towards me swearing and howling 
like a madman. Seeing myself thus threatened, 
I drove both spurs into my horse's flanks with all 
my strength; and he, being extremely quick and 
recognizing by that signal what his master wanted, 
threw himself with incredible force and quickness 
into the midst of that troop of armed men, threw some 
of them to the earth, drove away the rest and forced 
them to hide along the hedges as well as they could. 
But I, paying particular attention to Richard who 
was playing the bully more than the rest, and who 
was the sole cause of the quarrel, caught him by 

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the collar and giving him a whirl with extraordinary- 
force, threw him to the earth and drove my horse 
several times over him to break an arm or a leg, 
not meaning to kill him. But God did not permit 
it, for my horse every time jumped over him with- 
out stepping on him. I had two pistol bullets 
through my mantle, and my horse was badly hurt. 
I had also a blow from a halberd which nearly broke 
my neck, but being directed by the hand of God, 
only cut the collar of my coat. I can say that I 
never had a greater service from my horse than then. 
He whirled about like a monkey, and I used him as 
if he had had reason so as to do what I wished and 
to rush upon one and another before they had time 
to recover themselves. 

But truly, in the midst of this bloody tragedy, I 
had a kind of aversion to see Goodman de Poligny 
who, just as he saw me rush in and overthrow these 
people with my horse and my sword, was thinking 
less of the service that I was rendering him than of 
the legal proceedings which might come from it, 
and he began to shout to Sieur Richard and the rest, 
"At least, messieurs, it is not I who am the cause of 
all this. You are witnesses that it is only M. de 
Pontis. " Then addressing himself to me, he added 

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"Ah! sir, you are spoiling everything. I had right 
on my side in my suit. And now they will have the 
right to sue me." I shouted back without being 
disturbed much, "yes, yes, sir, they are witnesses 
that it is not you, but me, who is guilty of this fault, 
if it is one. I take it on myself. I shall be their 
opponent. And I am very wilHng to be such for 
the love of you. " 

Soon after, our friends, who had stayed behind 
and who hastened up on hearing the disturbance, 
arrived when the affair was finished and the assassins 
in flight. They wondered at our good fortune and 
regretted much that they had lost this only oppor- 
tunity of rendering service to us. Goodman de 
Poligny, who could not be silent or keep from show- 
ing to everybody his regret for this occurence, 
repeatedly said to me that I had ruined him and 
that this man would in his turn begin proceedings 
against him. But Madame de Poligny, who was a 
brave and generous woman, when she heard what 
had happened, praised me much and thanked me 
for having in this way broken down the pride and 
insolence of that assassin. 

But Sieur Richard, who was skilled in trickery* 
went the following night to Grenoble. There he 

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accused me of having attempted to assassinate him; 
and he presented a petition to the parHament and, 
without any other evidence, obtained an order of 
arrest against me. But I had relatives and friends 
in the parliament, one of whom, M. de CaKgnon, a 
counsellor, sent at once to tell me what had been 
done, and informed me that a bailiff, with whom he 
had made it all right, would come to serve the order 
on me at a time which he stated. So I sent two or 
three men to waylay the bailiff some leagues from 
Vaubonnez and forcibly take from him the paper 
which he was bringing. Our design was to gain 
time till I could inform the judges of the truth of 
the affair. As the bailiff had an understanding 
with us, he, as soon as our men met him, gave up the 
warrant, proclaiming that violence was offered to 
him, and he drew up such a report as to help on our 
game; which delayed matters. 

Sieur Richard made a great outcry over this, 
saying that I had committed an outrage against 
the parliament. The governor of the province, M. 
de Lesdiguieres wrote me to say that it was reported 
that I had committed such violent deeds that every- 
body was complaining about it, and that if I kept 
on, he should be obhged to use his power as governor 

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against me. But I wrote him giving him the facts 
and he answered me that he was glad to know the 
truth of the affair and that it only increased the 
esteem in which he had always held my conduct. 

But I saw that it was necessary to take proceed- 
ings against Sieur Richard, and, having learned of 
many extortions which he had committed in the 
region, I brought forward all those who had any 
cause of complaint, and having taken their state- 
ments in a legal way presented them to the par- 
liament. 

M. de Calignon, with Madame de Poligny and 
some other friends of mine, worked powerfully for 
me and soon brought the matter in a condition to 
be decided. Then the poor miserable fellow seeing 
that he had no more hope of escaping by all his 
artifices from the judgment which was going to be 
given against him, and seeing nothing before him 
but the gibbet for his crimes, concluded that the 
best thing for him to do was to come and throw 
himself at my feet and submit himself in advance 
to everything, provided I would save his life. 

At first, as I was extremely angry because of the 
perfidy with which he had already broken the word 
he had given me, and the extraordinary insolence 

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with which he had acted afterwards, I could not 
bring myself to listen to any settlement; and I 
thought that, for the love of justice and the peace 
of the country-side, it was absolutely necessary to 
have him hung. But his continual importunities, 
added to the extremity to which I saw he was 
reduced, giving me at last some ground for a hope 
for better conduct from him in the future, induced 
me to take gentle means and show mercy to him. 
And so I told him that, though he had lost his honor 
by breaking the promise he had given me when he 
made the same request of me at Paris, I would 
nevertheless grant him what he did not deserve; 
but he must first determine upon three things, — ^he 
must entirely quit the country, his lands must be 
sold and the money arising from the sale must pay 
the expense of legal proceedings. 

Richard, who saw that it was better for him to 
save his life with the loss of his property than to be 
hung with his purse hanging at his neck, said he was 
wiUing to do all, provided his life was saved. So 
this miserable affair was terminated. His lands 
were sold. Part of the money paid the expenses. 
He asked pardon of Madame de Pohgny and left 
the country, where he was never seen afterwards. 

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Doubtless, it was God who gave me prudence, 
firmness and perseverance to push this miserable 
fellow to the wall and break down his insolence. 
Pride, rage and despair, joined to his activity and 
cunning, made him capable of every excess. And 
it was an extraordinary exercise of God's justice, 
that, being as proud and as cruel as he was, he saw 
himself at last forced to bend and submit himself to 
the will of the man whom he wanted to destroy and 
hated with all his heart. 



130 



TEE COURAGEOUS PREACHER 

FATHER GONTIER, a Jesuit priest, 
preached one day at the church of St. 
Gervais. King Henry IV, the Marchioness 
de Vernueil, and the greater part of the 
ladies of the court were present at the sermon. The 
ladies usually placed themselves near the pulpit, 
because there was where the King generally seated 
himself. Besides the noise of their whispering, the 
marchioness especially made signs to the King, to 
make him laugh. Father Gontier stopped in the 
middle of his sermon and turning to the King, — 
"Sire," said he, "will you never weary of coming 
with a seraglio to hear the word of God, and making 
so great a scandal in a holy place.^^" 

All the ladies, and the marchioness especially, did 
all in their power to induce the King to make an 
example of the indiscreet preacher. The King 
listened to them but did nothing. 

The next day, he went to hear the preacher again, 
and met him as he was going to the pulpit. Instead 

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of complaining at what the preacher had said the 
day before, the King assured him that he had nothing 
to fear, and thanked him for his admonishing, but 
at the same time he asked him not again to doit 
pubhcly. 



132 



HENRY IV AND THE ATTORNEYS 

IN this month (November, 1602), there was 
told in Paris a story about the King (Henry IV) 
which was pleasant and worthy of remark. 
The Seigneur de Vitry, who knew about the 
matter, told it as true to one of my friends. It was 
as follows: 

The King who was hunting in the direction of 
Grosbois, shpped away from his companions, as he 
often does, and came alone to Creteil which is a 
league beyond the Charenton bridge. He got 
there after dinner time, hungry as a hunter (as they 
say) and went to the hostelry, and, having found 
the hostess, asked her if there was not something 
for a dinner. She told him "No!" and that he had 
come too late. But he saw, as she spoke, a roast 
on the spit, and asked for whom the roast was cook- 
ing. She told him it was for some men who were 
upstairs, who, as she thought, were attorneys. 

The King (whom she took to be simply a gentle- 
man, because he was alone) asked her to go and say 

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to them that there was an honorable gentleman who 
had just arrived and was tired and hungry; and that 
he asked them to give him a piece of their roast ^ 
which he would pay for, or would they let him sit 
at the end of their table and he would pay his share. 
They flatly refused his request, saying that, as for 
their roast, there was none too much for themselves, 
and as to his dining with them they had business 
with each other and were very glad to be alone. 

The King having heard their answer asked the 
hostess for a boy whom he could send to a place 
near by to get him some company; and having given 
the boy a piece of money, sent him to the Seigneur 
de Vitry, who lived near, giving himself another 
name, and sending as a token a great red cap which 
he sometimes wore, and told the boy to tell him to 
come at once to the hostelry. 

The boy carried the message and de Vitry, per- 
ceiving that it came from the King, went at once, 
accompanied by eight or ten others, and found the 
King, who told him what had happened and the 
meanness of the attorneys. 

The King told him to go at once and seize them 
and take them to Grosbois; and that, when he had 
them there, he should have them well whipped, to 

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teach them to be more courteous to gentlemen 
another time. 

And this the Sieur de Vitry did very promptly 
and well, in spite of all the reasons, prayers, suppli- 
cations, remonstrances and contradictions of mes- 
sieurs, the attorneys.* 

* The story does not say, but it may well be understood 
that the King satisfied his hunger with the attorney's roast. 



135 



THE POPE AND TEE AMBASSADOR 

POPE PAUL V, complaining to the Venitian 
ambassador, now (1609) resident in Rome, 
that there was heretical preaching through- 
out the city and the seignory of Venice, 
the ambassador in answer said that the seignory 
had always been and was orthodox and CathoUc, 
and never would allow anything to be preached in 
its domains but the Gospel of Christ. The Pope 
promptly answered, "Don't you know that to 
preach the Gospel of Christ is to ruin the Catholic 
laith?" 



136 



A TRIAL WITH A SINGULAR EPISODE 

CARDINAL RICHELIEU had succeeded 
in defeating the cabal by which the Queen 
had planned his exclusion from the 
favor of King Louis XIII, and was in 
fuller power than before. He sent to the Bastille 
the Chevalier de Jars, who had been one of the 
Queen's adherents. It was winter when he was 
imprisoned, and during the whole of the period of 
eleven months during which he lay in the dungeon 
in which he was placed, he had only the velvet suit 
to wear which he had on when he was arrested. 

Eighty times during the eleven months de Jars 
was subjected to an examination as severe as possible. 
But he answered always with good sense and firm- 
ness, without being tangled on any subject or con- 
tradicting himself in his answers, or saying anything 
embarrassing for anyone. At the end of the eleven 
months he was brought out to be taken to Troyes, 
being dealt with as harshly as a man would be who 
is taken out to his death. Passing through a court, 

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as he was leaving the Bastille, he saw on a balcony 
Marshal de Bassompierre and several others, who 
had also been sent to the Bastille, on the same 
grounds as he, but who had been treated with more 
humanity than he, for he did not know where he 
was going or what was going to happen to him. 
He turned to them and shouted, "Adieu! I do not 
know where I am going. But you may be sure, 
whatever happens to me, that I am a man of honor, 
and that I shall never fail my friends or myself. " 

At Troyes, Laffemas, who was called the cardinal's 
executioner, and who had already been the tormenter 
of de Jars in the Bastille, was appointed to be his 
judge ; and there were joined with Laffemas a sufficient 
number of men who were no more honest than he, 
to take and carry on the proceeding. Laffemas 
worked at the case in all the ways which are known 
to that kind of men, and he was well seconded by 
the others. They tried to buy false witnesses 
against de Jars; but de L'He, the provost, who had 
accompained him from Paris to Troyes, and whom 
they wanted to have say that on the way he had 
discoursed against the state, would not take part 
in their malice and absolutely refused to say so. 

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Laffemas knew what was secretly in the cardinal's 
mind, which was not to have the chevalier put to 
death, for he knew he was innocent and there was 
no reasonable ground to condemn him; but he hoped, 
by fear, by suffering and the apparent certainty of 
death, to get from him the secrets of the intrigue of 
the Queen, Madame de Chevreuse, and the keeper 
of the seals, Chateauneuf, against himself. Laffemas 
had promised the minister that he would torment 
de Jars so that he would get out of him about all 
the cardinal wanted to know; and that on a small 
foundation of evil he would find means to carry on 
the proceeding against him, in accordance with the 
ways of the cardinal who, as I have heard his friends 
relate, used to say that with two Hues of a man's 
handwriting, though he was innocent, a proceeding 
against him could be successfully carried through, 
because the matters could be so fixed about that as 
a foundation, that whatever was wanted could be 
found. In that way Laffemas carried on the pro- 
ceeding against de Jars. He threatened him, he 
interrogated him, and did everything that a base 
soul is capable of doing. 

One day, which was the feast of All Saints, this 

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wicked judge, wishing to show the innocent criminal 
that he had some kind feeling for him, allowed him 
to attend mass. He was brought by a band of archers 
and under a good guard to the church of the Jacobins. 
While there, he saw Laffemas and his wife come 
forward to take the communion at the high altar; 
and he, fearing nothing and always intent on his 
own affairs, when he saw that that man had re- 
ceived the holy Sacrament, all at once escaped from 
his guards and rushed at Laffemas and caught him 
by the throat, saying that, as he had between his 
lips his God and his living Creator, it was time for 
him to tell the truth and justify him (de Jars) before 
God and men, and to declare that he was innocent 
and that it was an injustice to persecute him; 
adding that, as Laffemas was making a show of 
being a Christian, he ought at once to surrender to 
the truth; that he was a scoundrel and he therefore 
refused to have him for his judge; he called on 
the bystanders to witness that he refused him. 

The people gathered around them at the noise, 
and all began to murmur against the unjust judge. 
De L'He, the provost, who was one of them, tried to 
separate the two, but de Jars would not quit the 
man, insisting upon an answer. Laffemas at last 

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answered coldly, "Sir, do not complain! I assure 
you that the cardinal loves you. " De Jars insisted 
that he should answer on the point of his innocence; 
and at last Laffemas said he (de Jars) would get off 
with being sent to Italy, but he would like to show 
him some small letters written by him, which would 
show that he was more guilty than he pretended. 
The chevalier did not understand a word of what 
Laffemas had said, but in utter astonishment let 
go of him and was taken back to his prison. He 
saw that the proceeding against him was being 
actively pressed and considered himself as good as 
dead; but he determined to maintain his courage 
and do what an honorable man ought to do. He 
was brought again before the tribunal, where he 
boldly refused to accept Laffemas as his judge, 
charged him with all his baseness, called him a 
scoundrel a second time, and told the other judges 
what promise Laffemas had given the cardinal 
against him. He was interrogated all over again 
for three hours, but he defended himself so courage- 
ously that those, who had wanted to destroy him 
and planned at least to make him betray his friends, 
were confounded. When he was being taken away, 
de L'lle, the provost, came to him and said, "Be of 

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good courage, sir, I have good hope for you, for 
they have ordered me to take you back to the same 
prison; and it is usual to take those, whom they are 
going to condemn to death, to another place. " The 
chevalier answered him in the same tone in which 
he used to speak as to things which he did not agree 
with, "My friend! those gallows birds are going to 
condemn me. I see that by their looks. I must 
have patience, and the cardinal will be in a rage to 
see that I laugh at him and his tortures." As soon 
as he had left the room, Laffemas showed the other 
judges a letter from the cardinal, or rather from the 
King which said, "If he is condemned to a small 
punishment show him the sentence, but do not give 
it to him. If he is condemned to death, suspend 
the execution." The judges condemned him to 
death, and he was brought to the scaffold. He showed 
himseK there to be a man of courage and honor. 
He sneered at his judges and his enemies, and met 
the approach of death with great firmness. x\s 
the executioner was ready to strike the beheading 
blow, his pardon was brought to him. He said 
afterwards that his suffering was great, but that God 
had shown him great favor and that he had recog- 
nized by experience that God had a care for his 

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creatures. And after the death of Cardinal Riche- 
lieu he said he owed his life to the cardinal, for if 
the cardinal had wished it, the judges would have 
put him to death. 



143 



iUM 2 19" 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



\m 2 



1911 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



030 262 804 A 




